23/5/18 - Writing Advice Wednesday

Today, 23/5/18 is the _'s installment of Writing Advice Wednesday, where every two weeks, I share some advice to other writers that I have happened to learn along the way and would have rather known earlier on in my writing journey.

It is important to remember that any opinions I express are not law in any way, shape or form! Not everyone has the same experiences as I do in this field, but it is valuable to share opinions on topics in order to help others.

After a class presentation in April, I decided it would be worthwhile to provide you with my presentation script, with incorperated writing advice on the topic we were set to discuss for the presentation. This is completely fine, you don't need to worry as this assessment is formative and I will not be jeopradising anything by sharing what information I gave my class, with you today. But I would like to apologise for the lack of familiarity in the content presented today as I had a page quota to fulfil.

So, what is the actual topic today? I will be discussing exposition and how it relates to dialogue!

Exposition is a term used to describe a comprehensive description and explanation of an idea or theory. When applied to storytelling, the term relates to the insertion of important background information within a piece. This can be done in many ways, and one of the most common forms of conveying expository information within a work of prose is through dialogue.

Expositional dialogue is most common in the genres of science fiction and fantasy as the entire world that surrounds the characters could be of the writer’s creation. This is usually hard enough to do without having to explain everything to the characters to maintain suspension of disbelief. What a writer doesn’t want is for readers to poke holes in the logic behind the systems in place. 

Many writers have established skilful ways in which to provide readers with expository information in their pieces of prose. For example, in Harry Potter series by J.K Rowling, expository information is dealt to the protagonist from the inciting incident in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone to almost the end of the series. Most significant plot related information is given to Harry through dialogue. For example, the iconic “You’re a wizard, Harry.” – this quote from the first book of the series, is what sets the ball rolling in terms of world building. Not only was it simple but it immediately provided context for the peculiar experiences that Harry had experienced during the story, prior to Hagrid’s introduction.  

What Rowling does especially well with the first book is to take advantage of Harry’s lack of knowledge about the workings of the wizarding world and his age as a first year student at Hogwarts in order to provide the reader with significant information about the world and lore surrounding this universe. Rowling takes advantage of the fact this; as by having Harry ignorant means that the reader gets to learn everything as he does – this is a method that is carried on for the rest of the series too. The reader knows not of why Sirius Black is so determined to reach Harry Potter until he learns of this himself. We also do not know about the prophecy until Harry does.

It can be argued that Rowling took advantage of setting this story in a school environment for the sake of context as it meant that the readers could be “taught” by her about the world she had created. It meant world building could be condensed into a Q&A section and also push the plot forward as Harry learned more about what he had become involved in.

The idea of introducing a foreign character into this world is a common method used for exposition as it aids the education and emersion of the reader. As, in an ideal situation, a character that is new to this space is going to have similar if not the same questions as a reader would to the writer. This method allows the reader to know everything they need to know. 

I have used this method myself in several pieces of science fiction. The most prevalent being when I wrote a space opera, where a character from Earth managed to find themself stranded on an alien spaceship hundreds of thousands of lightyears away from their homeworld.With surprise, surprise, a huge case of amnesia. In that text, the first thing that the other characters did was gag the human and inject a universal communicator into the nape of their neck so they could understand what everyone was saying around them. Once they could actually comprehend things, the questions just kept coming. But instead of getting answers, the human was at a loss because the aliens that recovered their body from the wreckage of another ship, had no idea how they got there! I did this in order to establish an arc in which the character, Atlas began to learn of what happened to them. 

I found that the aforementioned method of exposition was ideal for that kind of scenario, where a character is new to a world and needed to learn things in quick fire ways, and with the communicator in their neck, it was easier to justify Atlas learning from these aliens and the pace in which that happens. 

This form of exposition and dialogue is less common in realistic fiction, where the pieces are set within this world. Instead, exposition in the form of backstory is conveyed to the reader via dialogue. This means that information tends to be revealed through passing comments and elaboration. For example, in Becky Albertai's novel Simon Versus The Homo Sapien Agenda, also published under the title Love Simon after the film adaptation, exposition is given in reference to Simon's sexuality, where Martin declares that he knows that Simon is gay, after reading and screenshotting his emails to Blue, another gay student at their school whom Simon was yet to meet.

*INSERT EXCHANGE FROM BOOK*

The above exchange between Simon and Martin is in place, not only to set the plot into motion, but also to allow the reader to know things that wouldn't immediately come to mind, had there been no stimuli to bring them forward. This is important as real people to not just walk through life thinking "I'm gay. I'm gay. I'm gay, I'm gay, I'm gay, I'm gay", no. The human mind isn't like that unless provoked to think such things. And albeit, Blue's coming out via social media does provide Simon with stimuli, but it is fully addressed in its full force when Martin speaks of it, as Simon is not out as a gay person.

So, after all of this context, published examples and personal anecdotes... What exactly, in my experience, do I suggest that a can a writer to do optimise their use of dialogue for the sake of exposition?

1. Do not forget that dialogue needs to sound like an actual person is saying it. Real people do not speak in flowing eloquent sentences unless they are in a scenario under which it is necessary. Such as a class presentation. Otherwise, people would use colloquialisms and fillers when speaking. They stutter, and drop letters when they speak. It adds to the authenticity of the voice and the believability of the dialogue.
For example:
*INSERT EXAMPLES FROM NEON BLOOD*
But! There are always exceptions, insults tend to be more eloquently constructed as they are put together in order to cause offence! If you are providing exposition into a general opinion, sometimes there is no better way to do it than to throw in an insult!

2. Sometimes, being simple with establishing an area of exposition is easier than actually explaining backstory and context all in one go. It can be easier for a reader to comprehend if the exposition is jotted around here and there, as opposed to being thrown at them all at once. This is usually referred to by the company I keep as an "info dump" and I am infamous for them in early drafts of my prose! They don't tend to be well received.
An example of scattered exposition goes as follows:
*INSERT EXAMPLE FROM NEON BLOOD*

3.

9/5/18 - Writing Advice Wednesday!

Today, 25/4/18, is the next instalment of this series of posts; Writing Advice Wednesday, where my advice to new writers will be shared once every two weeks. 

It is important to remember that my opinions are not law in any way, shape, or form! Not everyone has the same experiences as I do in this field but it is valuable to share opinions on topics to try and help others!

So what is today's topic for Writing Advice Wednesday? How do I build characters?

Today I will be informing you of one of my most extensive methods of character building. It is a tactic I have used multiple times. This method is character RP!

It sounds daft, I'm sure. But if you happen to know other writers, you have a chance to maybe find a new RP partner!

I used to RP back in college, throwing characters into scenarios I would have never considered to put these characters in. But there they were, my innocent Christian pacifist was having to throw her beliefs aside for the sake of self-preservation! It was an immensely clever tactic to test how a character would react to stimuli that you yourself wouldn't have necessarily considered. But my old partners all happened to retire from the site we used due to their own personal lives taking over. I later did the same.

It was only two months ago that I returned to the world of RP on discord with my friend and coursemate Skylark. She and I have a server in which we RP our characters in several AU's, none of which, are technically canon. Although, we acknowledge our original thread to be the canon storyline for these characters.

We have developed our characters by putting them in social situations they otherwise wouldn't be written into. For example, Sky's three main RP characters, Sol, Sab and Jack are all LIVING UNDER ONE ROOF in a scenario she likes to call the "Bro's AU". Expanding from there, I am working with the AU in which my character Gary, is not only a substance abuser, he is actively physically abusive toward his wife and kids. Putting these characters in the same town has resulted in several black eyes.

Our RP style as a pair is rather extensive. In the space of two months, we have written a total of four days worth of events. In larger RPs that would be regarded as immensely quick pace but considering this is only between the two of us, we are taking a very long time. Not that there's a problem with that. Except when you have already planned the fact that your characters will be doing things in weeks and months in the future within that universe. Hell, we joked that the wedding between two of my characters will probably take place after our graduation from university in 2019!

Now, what benefits are there in building characters via RP?

1) Like I have previously stated, writing characters in RP environments allows the writer to put the character in a scenario which they otherwise would not find themselves in within the constraints of their canon universe.

2) Due to RPs being spontaneous, for you cannot see what the other party is writing ((unless you are like me and Sky and just sit there with discord open during lectures, and typing replies during class on our laptops when our lecturers, inevitably, go off on tangents. As we sit together in class, there is an option to glance at the screen for an inclination as to what will happen next)) you tend to learn things about your characters that you otherwise wouldn't have thought to ask.
For example:
I never considered why my character, Michaelis, was so determined to avoid losing his inheritance until after he discussed his dreams with Sol. Turns out he wants to start a non-profit. Who would have guessed? Certainly not me!

3) Due to RPs existing within their own pocket dimensions, you get to use these worlds to flesh out potential tidbits of backstory you could use for the original canon your characters derived from.
For example:
I intend to add the more proof to demonstrate that Gary was a selfish and corrupt man: he was addicted to narcotics, was physically abusive to his wife and kids, and actively cheated on his wife with women he'd pick up at bars in the city. This would make hus quest for redemption both noble and futile in the eyes of the reader, which was what I wanted. I, otherwise, wouldn't have considered infidelity to justify why Gary was such an unlikable character! 

Thank you for reading!
And remember:
Per Ardua Ad Astra
- Imogen. L. Smiley

25/4/18 - Writing Advice Wednesday

Today, 25/4/18, is the next instalment of a new series of posts; Writing Advice Wednesday, where my advice to new writers will be shared once every two weeks. 

It is important to remember that my opinions are not law in any way, shape, or form! Not everyone has the same experiences as I do in this field but it is valuable to share opinions on topics to try and help others!

The topic of today's advice is acquiring ideas WITHOUT A SET WRITING PROMPT! This instalment will focus more on how I do things and providing insight into how my brain works before I provide you with suggestions of how to potentially boost the volume of ideas you create! 

I am generally a sponge for ideas, so it always shocks me when my friends say that they struggle to get inspired. I once likened the process of coming up with stories to putting a puzzle together or knocking over a line of dominoes. I tend to come up with an idea through a profound thought or something that I have heard be said, and my brain starts to over-analyse it as an interesting idea on it's own. It is there that I tend to develop a concept. 

For example, when coming up with The Neon Series, my current WIP and the series that holds my heart and soul; I came up with it through my A-Level sociology class, when my teacher, Miss James asked what would be the best way to change crime rates, and I replied with "you simply change the definition of crime" - which was the correct answer. Admittedly, the reason I already knew this was due to studying a basic version of this module whilst studying sociology as a GCSE. 

From the thought that changing the definition of crime would decrease crime rates, my head began to whirl, concluding that the same idea could also be used to increase crime rates. But I began to ponder why anybody would possibly want to increase crime rates. From there, I put the idea that increasing crime rates would lead to a less criminal and deviant society but the flaw of that would be an immensely greater prison population and surely the best way to counter that would be to reconvert the way we dealt with prisons. I concluded that storing human minds in a database would free up large quantities of space as storing comatose bodies would take up less space than providing living quarters etc. for those who were being incarcerated.

And from there, the initial concept of The Punishment Game, the Hellish cyberscape that my characters would have to overcome was created. 

However, despite that fact, sometimes even I need a helping hand with getting inspired and acquiring ideas! 

Tip One: Exposing yourself to new spaces can work WONDERS

When I think of how I acquired inspiration, particularly for writing elements of description, I find myself recalling my experience attending a class trip to Keddleston Hall in Derby. The building was adorned with grandeur and aspects such as the broad staircases that overlooked the grounds led me to speculate how different people would perceive this view in a fantasy setting. For example, if a Princess, born and raised in these lands, looked out of her window, she would probably not care too much about the view due to being so accustomed to it. However, one of her friends from one of the surrounding kingdoms, would probably feel nostalgic as she walked down the stairs into the gardens, as she would rarely see this view. And a power hungry Lord from another kingdom is likely to brush off the initial impression of this view, for he believes he will later grow used to it in marrying someone who already lives there. I found that this was very helpful in the process of describing these characters independently from one another, looking at the exact same location. 

Tip Two: Exercise really helps to stimulate the mind 

After I go out to walk for a few miles, I always seem to find that my mind is buzzing with ideas, especially if I have bee exposed to new visual stimuli whilst doing the exercise. For example, once I returned from Keddleston Hall, I found myself desperate to take advantage of the new sights I had seen and incorporate them into pieces of fantasy that I was writing! 

Tip Three: Don't underestimate the impact of music on the mind!

Writing to music always seems to be a controversial topic, as it varies for every person. Some prefer the embrace of silence, some like to listen to rainymood for a sensation of background noise and others like to write to the sound of music - with or without lyrics, there are many things that can be gained through the process of listening to music. If you are yet to test out writing to music, I would very much recommend it! When I was working on a screenplay for my scriptwriting class, I found myself writing my best pieces of work to piano music, and when I was writing scenes of conflict and violence, alternative music, rock and metal, provided great background music for the work I was producing! 

Thank you for reading! I hope these tips helped you in any way, shape or form! 

And remember:
Per Ardua Ad Astra! 

- Imogen. L. Smiley

11/4/18 - Writing Advice Wednesday

Today, 28/3/18, is the sixth instalment of a new series of posts; Writing Advice Wednesday, where my advice to new writers will be shared once every two weeks. 

It is important to remember that my opinions are not law in any way, shape, or form! Not everyone has the same experiences as I do in this field but it is valuable to share opinions on topics to try and help others!

So, what is today's topic? Accumulating an audience!

Admittedly, I am still lacking in the sense of having an audience, but several years ago, I had a much larger group of people wanting to know what I was producing. But how did I get them?

1. Don't be afraid to write fanfiction to get attention - I found myself inspired by reading a piece that a fellow writer and now friend, Katie, created back in 2012. This piece was long-prose and it was fanfiction. Her piece of work motivated me to write my own piece that derived from the same source material. And when I plucked up the courage to post it and tell her about it, she became an immediate supporter. From that one single fanfic, I have acquired several long-term friends that have made up a portion of my audience, regardless of what content I am producing because they simply want to know what I am doing! I don't know whether I would be this motivated without them! So shout-out to Katie, Ellen, Ryan, Den, Alex and Bre for dealing with me for so long and supporting my works!

2. Regardless of what you are writing, keep it consistent - I managed to expand my audience on one specific account by posting short but regular updates on a daily basis, producing short chapters that tended to be between 800 and 1500 words in length that would be posted every day without fail. I did this for two months and managed to acquire an increase of over 100 followers on that account. Consistency got me an audience. The fact my work was constantly at the top of the "recently updated" section online allowed me to gain an increased readership. In a week of absence, readers would have seven chapters worth of content to immerse themselves in! It was a great system that I had devised!

3. Maintain a presence - I am very guilty of not taking my own advice in reference to this article in particular - but when I was using a previous account, during a painful extended hiatus from writing updates for my stories, I found myself still constantly checking the happenings on the website, supporting my fellow writers and their own works. I found that despite not being able to join in on the writing front, keeping my account active, meant that my followers were not losing interest in what I was producing!


Thank you for reading!

And remember:

Per Ardua Ad Astra!

- Imogen. L. Smiley

28/3/18 - Writing Advice Wednesday

Today, 28/3/18, is the sixth instalment of a new series of posts; Writing Advice Wednesday, where my advice to new writers will be shared once every two weeks. 

It is important to remember that my opinions are not law in any way, shape, or form! Not everyone has the same experiences as I do in this field but it is valuable to share opinions on topics to try and help others!

So, what is today's topic? Beating Writer's Block! 

As a Creative Writing student, the idea of writer's block can be horrifying. The concept itself has the potential to greatly impact the way we perceive the outcome of a specific module, because if we have writer's block then we have the potential to have stunted ourselves and our potential heavily. 

So, how do I manage to evade writer's block? 

1. Read - I find that reading helps me keep writer's block at bay. Being immersed in the world of another writer, published or not, allows me enough space from my assignments to collect my thoughts. Sometimes, what I require, is not a writing prompt but a sentence, or a phrase, or an image. Therefore, exposing myself to a variety of written stimuli has the potential to provide me with the muse I may require in order to further my piece. 

2. Re-evaluate what I already have -  Should I get stuck midway through creating a piece of writing, and struggle to work out what I am to do next, I go over everything I have produced in reference to said piece in a bid to find plot threads I could pull on to move the story onward etc. It is very helpful when doing coursework. 

3. Music - Look into music that fits the general theme of the piece and see if something gets my creative juices flowing again. One of the main aspects of writing which my screenwriting lecturer once offered us was to examine the concept of our piece and probe it to find out what the theme of the piece is - what is the core message you would like your readers to gain from the piece that you are creating? For example, in my screenwriting piece it was "live in the now" as it told the story of friends mourning over their friend who passed away because hypoglycemic of shock after a night of drinking. She did not let her Type One Diabetes keep herself from enjoying her life. However, her irresponsible behaviour evoked an early death on her part. Once I had the theme recorded, I began looking for music I could use that discussed a similar topic and got song suggestions from "Live Like There's No Tomorrow" by Selena Gomez to "This Life" by Tim Halperin to covers of "Ikanaide"! It gave me a vast sea of lyrics and images I could use for muses within my screenplay! 

Thank you for reading!

And remember:

Per Ardua Ad Astra!

- Imogen. L. Smiley

14/3/18 - Writing Advice Wednesday

Today, 14/3/18, is the fifth instalment of a new series of posts; Writing Advice Wednesday, where my advice to new writers will be shared once every two weeks. 

It is important to remember that my opinions are not law in any way, shape, or form! Not everyone has the same experiences as I do in this field but it is valuable to share opinions on topics to try and help others!

Today's topic is how to pull an all-nighter!

The concept itself seems simple enough; it can happen to anyone at any point and it will destroy their sleep schedule for the next few weeks due to their body needing to catch up on their sleep. For example, I tend to accidentally pull all-nighters toward the latter end of the semester, or over the holidays from term due to having free time to binge-watch every single show that I have missed out on since departing for another term at university. And despite having only two modules this semester, I have still managed to pull an all-nighter or two.

Of course, everyone does this for different reasons. For example, when NaNoWriMo or the subsequent Camp NaNoWriMo events take place, it is not uncommon for people to stay up all night to catch up on their lost time and absent words. However, I will be advising you on how to pull a productive all-nighter with the preconception that you are not intending to stay up to do work.

There are many ways to manage staying up all night, but there are many important things that must be prepared in advance, should you not be living alone.

1. Hoard food in your room to make sure you can eat during the night - when I pulled all-nighters two years ago, during the summer holidays to binge watch InuYasha, a Feudal Fairy Tale, on my best friend's insistence, I found myself having to sneak snack foods upstairs so I didn't have to creep downstairs at 4am to acquire a bag of crisps or a chocolate bar to keep my stomach's excessive growling from waking the rest of the family up. Should you be living on your own, the idea of having to creep downstairs to avoid waking anyone else up is not an issue of great significance, however, it is one to anticipate regardless. You will find yourself getting hungry several hours into your quest to stay up all night.

2. Along the same lines as the previous piece of advice, if you can acquire a water bottle, fill it up once before you go to "sleep" and once or twice again during the night. If your family or housemates happen to be anything like my Dad, then you'll understand the horror when you go downstairs in the early hours of the morning, not having slept a wink yet, and have to insist that you are just getting a glass of water in order to keep yourself from being parched in your sleep.

3. Give yourself something to do - a motivation to stay awake. Several times, when I have been required to stay awake all night, I will have found something to do in advance. A lot of people that I know, claim that I am a ridiculously loud typer, this limits what I can actually do on my laptop during an all-nighter, or at least while I am away from university. When I am at home, my room is right beside my parents' and they tend to fall asleep to the sound of my fingers against the keyboard as it reminds them of heavy rain. Should you be in a similar boat - find something you can occupy yourself doing, watch films, read stories etc. If you have the advantage that I do, whilst at university, of having a bedroom far away from the rest of the rooms of my housemates, I am able to write until the early hours of the morning! Giving yourself something to do whilst staying up all night allows the mind to remain stimulated. You are, also, apparently less likely to sleep if you have been facing a glaring screen up until approximately half an hour before you attempt to sleep. This is because your brain is still alert after processing such stimuli. If you want to stay awake, use your computer! It sounds ridiculous, but the glare should keep your eyes and brain alert!

Thank you for reading!
And remember:
Per Ardua Ad Astra!
- Imogen. L. Smiley

28/2/18 - Writing Advice Wednesday

Today, 28/2/18, is the fourth instalment of a new series of posts; Writing Advice Wednesday, where my advice to new writers will be shared once every two weeks. 

It is important to remember that my opinions are not law in any way, shape, or form! Not everyone has the same experiences as I do in this field but it is valuable to share opinions on topics to try and help others!

Today I will be talking about how I stay motivated!

I am what psychologists would call a Strong Type A Personality, this means that I am a generally well-motivated individual. Personally, I feel that I am motivated because the world wants to challenge my resolves. Ever since I was small, my goal of being a novelist has been under fire. When I was still at school, my creative writing was sub-par. I had ideas but could never seem to articulate the world that I was immersed in. This left me limited in my ventures into the world of writing and my goal tended to be questioned by those who surrounded me due to the fact that I was not amazing at the one thing I aspired to do. But I kept at it! Why did I do that? 

When I was younger, I felt that writing was the one thing that truly made me special and therefore, it would be ridiculous to pass up any opportunity to pursue that path.

When I met my best friend, she told me about a website called Wattpad. After her probing at me and asking why I had not yet made an account for the site, I admitted that I didn't think my work was good enough to go up online. From there, she pushed me to finish a project that I could post so I could start my journey. 

It was on Wattpad that I was properly introduced to the world of fan-fiction. It was there that my writing journey began to take off. I started writing in a fanbase that was slowly but surely gaining more fans, and therefore my work was getting more and more reads. I found myself motivated by the pressure of creating something because someone else was expecting to see more of it. And from there, the only way was up. 

I developed a schedule of daily updates of between 700 and 1200 words on this piece. My readership increased at a rate of knots and I was drowning in support! I found myself gaining confidence in my craft due to the support faces online were giving me! And through gaining confidence, I began to experiment with ideas I would have otherwise never try; such as writing a character going blind and demonstrating it through the quality of her description. 

From there, I used what I had learned from fanfiction and applied it to original works. I used what I was learning from the online world to construct the building blocks of brand new ideas. 

I managed to get an unconditional offer from my university due to the statistics from a fanfic. I threw everything I had achieved into a personal statement that gave me the platform to share the classroom with other writers! 

So out of this anecdote, what is my actual advice for motivation: 

In essence, I would suggest trying new things! When you go into a new area of writing and people read your work, particularly on a website like wattpad, it can take some time, but once you have people behind you and excited to see what you'll do next, you will probably feel more encouraged to create something incredible 

Thank you for reading!
And remember:
Per Ardua Ad Astra!
- Imogen. L. Smiley 

14/2/18 - Writing Advice Wednesday

Today, 14/2/18, is the fourth instalment of a new series of posts; Writing Advice Wednesday, where my advice to new writers will be shared once every two weeks. 

It is important to remember that my opinions are not law in any way, shape, or form! Not everyone has the same experiences as I do in this field but it is valuable to share opinions on topics to try and help others!

Today I will be discussing how I write such long pieces of prose. It may seem like a random topic but it is one of the most common questions that I am asked whilst at university "How do you write so much" etc. At the moment, my works of prose have been very long - my current WIP will be a five piece series, the first book currently standing at over eighty thousand words. 

How did I manage it? One word. 

Characters.

I have created so many characters for this series. Admittedly, there are only four central characters in the first book, but that book established the majority of the context before the perspective would shift. For the second book there are nine main characters and an extra eight side characters that have influence on the plot; most of these characters remain as main characters throughout the rest of the series.

With that considered, that means that for the second book I had nine potential plots; every single character has a story that led them to that point - so what are you going to do? You can explore all of them briefly and find out which characters have the most compelling stories that can relate to the prevalent plot thread.

A lecturer of mine once told me that character and plot co-exist, they influence one another and if you are struggling to write enough the issue may be the lack of characters or depth of the pre-existing characters! 

When I initially attempted to work out which characters would get the honour of having a book focusing on their stories, I looked to characters that had complicated backstories and interesting lives that could further the plot! 

Thank you for reading! I hope this helped you in any way, shape or form! 

And remember:
Per Ardua Ad Astra! 

- Imogen. L. Smiley

31/1/18 - Writing Advice Wednesday!

Today, 31/1/18, is the third instalment of a new series of posts; Writing Advice Wednesday, where my advice to new writers will be shared once every two weeks. 

It is important to remember that my opinions are not law in any way, shape, or form! Not everyone has the same experiences as I do in this field but it is valuable to share opinions on topics to try and help others!

Today I will be discussing poetry and how I managed to make the UniSlam team in just over a year of writing poetry! - Of course there are basic bits and bobs like practising but there are other things that I found important in reference to how much progress I managed to make during a short space of time!

The basics that need not need an extended justification are the following: 

• Keep writing - every poem you write adds another experience to your list - you only gain from writing them! 
• Practice - I gained a lot of confidence through the process of performing in an active routine. It was once I had confidence in my pieces that I began to expand my performance venues etc. My goal for the academic year was to perform at every single spoken word event in Derby at least once, and I managed to do that by the end of October, a feat I was ever so proud of!

Now for the actual substantial advice: 

1. Make sure you have a small notebook on hand at all times to write strong lines you come up with on the fly - it is always a great moment when you are stricken by an idea and even better when the concept is backed up by a killer line! The best way to store these lines is in a small notebook that is practical enough to be carried along with you at all times! I currently have two - one which every single line is placed in and a second, bigger notebook, where the strongest lines are filled in! 

2. Perform wherever and whenever you can - this was a piece of advice I was given by a fellow poet in Derby, Jamie Thrasivoulou. He encouraged me to go to as many events as possible in order to learn from poets from different scenes in the city! Prior to him giving me this advice, I had primarily performed at Twisted Tongues, and by the time Jamie provided me the advice, I had also performed at Poetry Speaks, She Speaks and LGBQWERTY. After he gave me this advice, I attended and performed at Subverse, City-Zen and Word Wise before going off on a limb and deciding to audition for the Derby Slam Team! 

3. Take on as much feedback as possible - I will not pretend that the auditioning for the UniSlam Team was an easy experience; when I went into the process, I was made aware that almost every judge had heard every single piece that I had ever performed throughout my spoken word career. I was also aware that I was in a position that my fellow competitors could have been at a greater advantage due to this. In order to strive for the best audition possible, I attended every single pre-audition workshop that the team captain hosted prior to the audition. I found myself being under scrutiny due to being an exemplary party to reflect upon. The captain already knew my weaknesses and made sure I knew of them. In response to them, I did my best to better myself and perform strong pieces that went against most of the issues I had acknowledged. I was later praised for being a team member that could take on correction very quickly. 

4. Don't be afraid to try something new - In reference to my slam team audition, I produced a piece of spoken word poetry on the day of the audition from the perspective of a fictional character on one side of a complicated romantic relationship. I used their voice to convey stronger emotions and used as many of my experiences as possible to make the piece sound as if the entire piece derived from my emotions - I found myself doing well as I acted out the poem as a character! It was a really interesting experience! 

Thank you for reading! I hope these tips helped you in any way, shape or form! 

And remember:
Per Ardua Ad Astra! 

- Imogen. L. Smiley

17/1/18 - Writing Advice Wednesday

Today, 17/1/18, is the second instalment of a new series of posts; Writing Advice Wednesday, where my advice to new writers will be shared once every two weeks. 

It is important to remember that my opinions are not law in any way, shape, or form! Not everyone has the same experiences as I do in this field but it is valuable to share opinions on topics to try and help others! 

Now for the topic of today’s post! Time management. I figured this would be relevant, since I am still struggle with this and with the next semester being right around the corner, it is more than relevant! SOOOO… let’s get started!

So! How have I been working with managing my time?

1. Set priorities!

When it comes down to it, in the eyes of the uni is that your degree comes first. I’m just lucky enough that my degree is in creative writing, so even when the prompts we are given aren’t ideal for what I particularly want to write in the future, I am doing what I love.

My priorities go as follows:

((mental health, when applicable)), Degree, job hunting, boosting my creative CV, social life, writing for leisure, etc.

2. Multi-task where possible

I am a sucker for multi-tasking, I find it so convenient and it’s great to take advantage of! I tend to be social with friends from home whilst eating dinner and do my assignments while I’m cooking. I will mull over content etc. while walking to uni and try to keep tabs on other writing blogs etc. to keep my content flow up. If you can take advantage of any ways to squeeze two tasks into one window, do it!

3. MAKE TIME

I am a very irate person. When people complain about not having time to write, I get quite annoyed at them. One friend was waiting for her grandma to collect her and take her to uni, and was on Facebook, complaining of her lack of time. I told her to simply exit Facebook and start writing on her phone / in a notebook / on her laptop. She didn't appreciate that, let's just say that! 

If you can make sacrifices, you should. I said to my friends I wouldn’t be joining them during my free periods with them during NaNoWriMo 2015 until I had hit the minimum word count for the day. I would just sit and sit and sit in the library and write until I felt satisfied, had class, or was hungry. I made sure that my NaNo Project, Neon Blood had top priority due to having made it the central focus of my Extended Project. My dedication to it resulted in me getting one mark off perfection at the end of the qualification! I was so proud!

So yes! Make time to write! It is important to make time for your writing when you can! When you want to pursue this area of the craft as a career, there are always small gaps in time you can dedicate to your creative process; when I was working over the summer, I used to ponder the plot-lines of my works. I would type up anything I could come up with on the spot when I was on my way back and then type the pieces up coherently between the time I got back and my next meal, whether it be lunch or dinner. 

Thank you for reading! I hope I helped in one way, shape, or form!

And remember:

Per Ardua Ad Astra!

- Imogen. L. Smiley

3/1/18 - Writing Advice Wednesday

Today, 3/1/18, is the first instalment of a new series of posts; Writing Advice Wednesday, where my advice to new writers will be shared once every two weeks. 

It is important to remember that my opinions are not law in any way, shape, or form! Not everyone has the same experiences as I do in this field but it is valuable to share opinions on topics to try and help others! 

Today's topic is RESEARCH and how much research is TOO much research! 

Okay! So let’s begin! How much research do I personally do?

When I am drafting a story I do absolutely no research! None! Zilch! No research whatsoever, but only when I am making the first draft and moulding it into something legitimate. I do not start conducting research for my works until the second draft is complete and then I only look into what I am aware may not make sense, like a character being in a medically induced coma for ten years and being fully capable of running through the halls to find their comrades. This does not actually seem plausible and therefore I conducted research into the impacts of long term comas

I personally think that once you have three sources giving you insight of the same POV into a topic you will be able to understand a subject well enough to write about it! But sometimes you can’t find that and that’s okay! So here is my advice on how to dictate when you’ve done too much research

Tip One: Try To Remember The Specifics

What was it you actually needed to know specifically? Was it something basic, like “Can adrenaline stimulate muscles after long-term sedation?” Which has the poetential to have a simple ‘Yes or No’ answer, or was it something more complicated like “How long does physical therapy take for a double amputee” as that is a lot more subjective and case sensitive. If you can remember what you originally needed to know you ca work out if you’ve answered your question or try to use the information you have acquired to actually answer the question.

Tip Two: Ask YOURSELF If You Know Enough

How does asking yourself help? When it came to writing a genderfluid character in a story of mine, I found myself doing primary research by talking to my friends who had the same identities. I found that through interacting with them on a one to one basis I was able to learn how they felt about their identities, pronouns and being misgendered. That helped me so much that I figured I wouldn’t need to know much more so just got writing!

Tip Three: Try To Write An Essay On What You Are Researching

Yes, this one sounds RIDICULOUSLY counter-productive but I found that it personally helped me when I was struggling to determine how much I knew about something in my story so I decided to test myself and try and write an essay about the topic because I was too ansty to wait much longer to write. It generally astounded me that I knew so much about the topic and it motivated me to get a move on and actually write!

Thank you for reading! I hope I helped in one way, shape, or form! 

And remember:

Per Ardua Ad Astra!

- Imogen. L. Smiley