Teens Can Indeed Write: Announcements

You all thought it was a lie, didn't you, 'rinos? You thought that it was absolutely impossible for teenagers to be able to write -- after all, we are inferior creatures from the land of Oz -- but in fact it is true! Hurray! And, in case you can't find it in your skeptical little hearts to believe me, I even have proof in the form of announcements from two teens from the crazy TCWT Facebook clan!

I'm a bit late getting to this announcement, friends, but Oliver Dahl's novel, The Dreamers, is free! But only until the end of the day, so hurry up and get it here: www.amazon.com/dp/B005JTAFHK
Not convinced that you want to splash out? Here, have a blurb:

The Dreamers is the NUMBER ONE BESTSELLING FREE CHILDREN'S SCIFI book on Amazon, and the #1Bestselling science fiction book! (+Top 60 Free books on all of Amazon!) Get it for FREE on your kindle or kindle reading app here - http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005JTAFHK

About: Sam is a Dreamer. This means that he can live inside of his dreams. In them, he must stop the evil Malfix from taking over not just the Dream Realm, but earth as well. Sam's adventures bring him through races, mazes, explosions, battles, and yes, the occasional cheesy knock-knock joke. Sound like your kind of book? Join thousands of people joining the ranks of the Dreamers at www.oliverdahl.com

If you can handle it, inferior creatures from the land of Oz (I really need to think of an acronym), I have even more news: Zara Hoffman has just revealed the cover for her soon-to-be published novel, The Belgrave Daughter. Having read bits and pieces of this one, I can personally suggest you go on and have a nosy over at  http://www.zarahoffman.com/4/post/2013/09/cover-reveal-the-belgrave-daughter.html and see what all the ensuing exclamation marks are about!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Proud Teen Writer out!

NaNoNovel Read-Through, Re-Cap, and Worry-Over

I promised you this a long time ago, and so here it finally is! You can also have a virtual bag of virtual popcorn if you can find one.

You may remember that I spent most of July writing, writing, writing. To you weirdos, partially, but mainly I was writing a novel based on Shakespeare's Hamlet. It still doesn't have its own title, but I've read it all the way through, and I thought I'd tell you what I thought of it.
 Short answer is that it's absolutely rubbish. Thankfully, the fact that it's absolutely rubbish will make editing it a good lot easier, which is always good. But first, I need to do lots and lots of research. Which is where the 'worry-over' part of this post's title comes from.
 You see, I have a bad habit of shoving things into my writing (which is a problem of its own that I don't have the energy to go into or even think about with this novel). When I'm writing speculative fiction, I tend to cram as many supernatural creatures into a world as is humanly possible. And in contemp., it seems, I shove themes and problems into novels like I've got four folders and a laptop to fit into a handbag. This particular novel has everything from terminal illness to mental illness, from suicide to cowardice to cold-blooded murder.
They say 'write what you know' but I only have experience in one of those things  (and it's murder, of course). The rest of them are all things that you need a careful, well-informed hand to handle, and while I try to be careful, I'm not very well-informed.
 What should you do when you're uninformed? You should get yourself informed! But with topics like suicide... it's a bit more difficult. Especially when you're socially awkward (but that's another issue I don't have the energy to go into). It's difficult to find people who can inform you, it's hard to talk to them sensitively -- possibly as difficult as writing about it is -- and if something they said would make a huge difference to the novel, what would I do? Would I ignore them so that I could keep it on track and not have to re-write the whole thing, or would I leave it and offend them and possibly others?
 A friend of mine (hi, by the way, if you're reading -- harass me at some point; we haven't talked in yonks) pointed out that you can't keep everyone happy. But as true as that is, I'd like to avoid it as much as possible. I want what I write to be as true to life and human nature as possible. I want what I write to help people, if it can. I want people to like reading my writing, not hate it. Which is why reading through this novel was so difficult to do -- I could see the image it painted of the mentally ill and of people in general and it was so negative, so awful... but I've not got a clue how to fix it.

Also, I haven't got a satisfactory ending yet. But at the moment, that's almost the least of my problems.

Writer-who-actually-seems-kind-of-depressed-but-promises-she-isn't out!