How To Take Care of Your Mental Health as A Writer

  Writers, or any other creative type of career, are often associated with mental illnesses... As well as bust some myths about that, I'm going to share how you can stay mentally healthy as a writer.
  While plenty of creative types to have mental issues, it isn't a qualification and plenty of people are perfectly healthy! However, there's a reason this association exists... I don't know the exact science behind it, but there are reasons that writers or artists are more likely to have a mental illness. Maybe it's all the stress that can come with these jobs, or that we spend excessive amounts of time locked away in a dark closet (or is that just me?), or don't have enough social interaction with people who aren't beta readers/critique partners/editors... But there is a connection, so be sure you take adequate care of yourself!
  First thing, I just want to say, I am not a psychologist/psychiatrist/doctor (yet, working on it!) so be aware that this is just personal experience advice. This is not grounded in science, I have done no research here, this is just what works for me as a writer who has had depression.

1. Mythbusting

  The myth that I'm busting today... If you treat your mental illness, your creativity is going away. This is not true, not in the slightest! Creativity is a part of you, your personality, just you as a person. Unless you whack your head or turn your brain into mush or something, the creativity is here to stay. Mental illness, on the other hand, is a mixture of negative mindsets and chemical imbalances in your brain. It's not a part of you, it's temporary, and the only thing that's going to change when it goes away is that you'll be happy! 

  So if you have or suspect you have a mental illness, go talk to someone. It's not going to hurt your work, I promise. On the contrary, it will help because it's really hard to write in the middle of depression or when you're having an anxiety attack! 

2. Time. Give Yourself Time. 

  Here's the #1 tip I've got; give yourself time. Fun time, downtime, relax time, whatever you need. But don't write all day, because as fun and enjoyable as it is, it's bad for you mentally. You're more likely to get depressed if you sit in the same place writing all day, not to mention the impact that can have on your relationships. 

  Take some time each day to take a walk, go out somewhere, talk to someone, do yoga, anything that's active and gets you out of the house. Activity, outside, and socializing are important factors to staying mentally healthy, and physically healthy as well!

3. Sleep. Do the Thing. 

  I get how hard it can be to stop writing and go to sleep, it's like your brain just works better at night. I'm currently writing this an hour past when I should be asleep and laughing at my own irony while feeling like a horrible hypocrite. But anyway, having a regular sleep schedule and getting enough sleep is huge. 

  Not only does sleep make you happier, give you more energy, and significantly improve every facet of your help, but there are like a million studies on the effects of sleep. It can improve your memory, you retain more information from studying then getting a full night of sleep than staying up too late studying. Lack of sleep can improve your chances of mental illness, not to mention that you're more likely to hallucinate if you are seriously sleep deprived. I could go on for a whole blog post about sleep studies, they count as psychology and I love them. But I'll stop here, you probably get the idea... 

4. Don't Be Afraid of The Help

  If you have an existing condition, don't be afraid to get help. There's seriously nothing wrong with taking medicine to make you happy or getting therapy. There's a stigma about having a mental issue, and then when you try to fix it that's a problem somehow. Don't listen to people, mental disorders are valid and real issues that deserve valid and real solutions, not people telling you you're stupid or weak or whatever because you tried to help yourself. 

  You're an important human being, treat yourself like it. 

5. Stop Worrying. 

  Yes, I'm aware of how hard that is. Don't worry, those words make me laugh, they're so impossible... But see if you can. Just give yourself permission to be imperfect, to be a human, to fail sometimes. I did this once, I just told myself that I was doing this for the experience and not to succeed, just to prove to myself that I could do this. The cool thing is, that not only did I succeed, but I didn't have all the stress that usually comes with doing anything. 

  Mindset hacks, that's what I use. "You're going to fail sometimes, and worrying won't stop it from happening." "You're doing this to prove to yourself that you can put yourself out there, not to succeed." etc. 

And always, always, always remember... You're important, you need to take care of yourself, and as amazing as your book is it is NOT more important than your mental health! 

How To Write Accurate Mental Illnesses

  So this is an increasingly popular thing in books now... But many people just can't get it right. Mental illness. Be this depression, anxiety, hallucinations or flashbacks, or just general trauma related issues, it's super easy to make your book unrealistic and therefore more hateable.
  The thing is, unless you've had the mental illness there really isn't much of a way to understand them. It's just one of those things that has a lot of misconceptions, a lot of myths, and a ton of misunderstandings.
  It is, however, possible to accurately portray your character's mental illness! Here are some tips and methods to do this, without personal experience in the matter...

1. RESEARCH

  Seriously, research. Research symptoms, statistics, risk factors, diagnosis, everything! And once you've researched all the medical/psychological facts, then search up people who've had your illness talking about it. Their experience, if/how they got over it, how they felt, everything.  

  The better an understanding you have, the better you'll be able to write this. Immerse yourself in the world of whatever you're researching, ideally while remaining sane yourself (not calling mentally ill people insane, just clarifying! Some are, sure, but not all of them... And it is possible to give yourself mental illness by being too obsessed.) 

2. Don't Make It A Character Trait

  Mental illness is not a character trait. It does not define your character. Create a fully functional, healthy character, just like any other, and then add the mental illness. Because people with depression do not identify as depression, they still have a personality that's unique, they're still them. The depression can come in and change them, hide certain aspects of them or make them more irritable or something, but they're still the same person. 

  Just as it's not a character trait, this should not be their only weakness or negative trait! If you take the mental illness away, they shouldn't be perfect. The should still have something else that brings them down from perfection, be that a fear or greediness or any number of character flaws. It can be complementary to the illness, but it shouldn't all be the illness. 

  A last thing along these lines, is that the illness shouldn't be the main topic of concern about the character. Think of it more like a physical illness, like let's say they got their foot chopped off. You aren't going to constantly bring up the missing foot, that's repetitive and stupid, but if the character is getting up to go somewhere then by all means bring up their annoyance or sadness at the handicap! And same thing with forgetting it; if your character consistently has trouble getting down the stairs then make it consistent. Don't make them breeze down those stairs because their loved one got home or something dangerous is happening! Same goes for mental handicaps, they don't stay at bay because it's convenient. 

3. Don't Romanticize It

  Mental illness isn't pretty, don't make it that way. Guys aren't going to be more likely to love someone because they're depressed, they aren't going to see an arm full of cuts and want to kiss them, they aren't going to see a girl have a panic attack in the cafeteria and think it's cute or hot (And if they do, that's just sick...) Mental illness is not attractive, and that's part of the reason people who have it try to hide it. They're worried that nobody will like them.
  Yes, there are sweet and caring people out there who will try to help and love mentally ill people anyway. Having mental illness doesn't make someone unlovable, because it's not a character trait or permanent part of the person! But on the other hand, if you're dating someone who is consistently pushing you away, hurting themselves, and being reclusive in their dark room... Be realistic, if that's just your love life and you're supposed to accept it, you would probably move on. Not to mention that the majority of these books take place in high school, meaning that there's school, future planning, social life, family, all these other things! Realistically, nobody who knows what's good for themselves is going to stick with a mentally ill person who is giving them close to nothing, making little to no effort to recover, and is pushing the person away.
  Also, mentally ill people usually don't make it obvious. Depressed people smile anyway, anxious people try to act relaxed, schizophrenic people don't go around announcing what they see or hear, and nobody yells how they're feeling or what they're thinking either alone or in public. It takes very special circumstances and people for someone with a mental illness to open up and talk about it, and this will not be two chapters after your characters hook up. In fact, people with mental illness usually only tell anyone either (A) once they've recovered or (B) when they're so deep into it that they might commit suicide and are scared.

4. If You Can, Have Someone Check It

  If you know someone who has had the mental illness, who was/is close to someone who has it, or is a psychologist specializing in mental illness, have them read your book when you've finished the first draft or so and see if it's accurate. Nobody is a better judge than the people with direct experience in that field, and they can really help you. 

  Ask specifically if the thoughts and feelings are accurate, if they could tell what's wrong with the person if they were never told what the actual illness was, and if the reasons behind the illness are valid. Take any feedback to heart (with a grain of salt, and maybe some pepper) and don't be afraid to make changes. 

5. Recovery Process

   Recovery is a process. It's not a matter of finding your soulmate and snapping out of it, it takes time! Time, work, motivation, ups and downs, it's not easy. If your character meets the perfect person and within two chapters is functioning like a normal human being with no trace of illness, then you need a reality check. 

  Here's what it takes to recover, and this is assuming that your character has that choice... With some things like bipolar disorder or schizophrenia, there is no cure or way to get over it. Treatments can help, but it's there to stay. 

  But let's just say your character has depression. That's what I had, and here's what it took for me to recover... First, I had to care. Originally, I didn't care, I had no motivation to get better. I had to find a reason to recover. Second, I had to take action. You can't just sit there and think about it, you have to do something. Whether that's move around, eat, dance, write, or anything but lie in bed and feel miserable, is up to you. Or get help, talk to someone, family member or psychologist, even a close and trusted friend. But take action. Third, keep it up. That can be hard, it's like walking through a swamp, which is how depression is often depicted. It's a struggle to stay up and moving forward, but you have to keep moving or you'll sink back to where you were. And that happens, you can't be strong constantly, you get sucked back down and need to re-find your motivation. It happens. But after you go long enough, you get out of the swamp. You have firm ground under your feet and energy returns, and suddenly things are just brighter! 

  That's just the basics, by the way, it's harder than that. And even once you get out, you have to stay out. Your mind reverts to old patterns under stress, and sometimes I find myself back in the swamp when something bad happens. It's still a possibility, and the patterns remain in your mind for a long time. New patterns have to be made and reinforced before you can stay mentally healthy. 

6. After The Recovery

   As I said above, your mind still gets pulled back into the mindset of mental illness. It can come back, just like someone who beat cancer is more likely to develop cancer again. But since I already went over that, I'll leave it there.  

  By the time you get out, you're different. For example, I'm much less sunshine and butterflies than I used to be, I'm more empathetic towards people because of my experiences, pretty much nothing scares me anymore (Depression gave me a certain lack of care in what happens to me, and an increased pain resistance, both of which kind of stuck once I recovered),  and my sense of humor is dark and sarcastic. While it was a bit of a shock to everyone to see me go from smiley-happy-princess-kid to depressed-but-hiding-it to dark-humor-horror-loving-yet-happy-and-kind, I think that in essence I'm still the same person and the changes aren't negative ones. Your character doesn't have to be darker when they recover, they could be lighter because they're happy to be out. They could be a wiser version of who they used to be. As long as there's a character growth that makes sense, you're good. 

  That was a whole long few paragraphs, but your character's journey should be similar. They aren't going to be same person coming away from the experience, it isn't going to be quick (it took me at least six months, if not more), and they need a solid reason. Something they could gain or lose that they genuinely care about. 

So that's what I've got on mental illnesses.  If you have any questions or anything to add, feel free to leave a comment or contact me! Thank you!

Tips on Killing Off Characters

  A lot of books include death... As in almost every book I've ever read. Death is a part of life, and also a common factor in stories! Want to motivate your character? Kill someone so they want revenge! Want to break your character? Kill someone. Do you need them to be emotionally challenged? Kill someone! Or do you need to strike fear in the readers' hearts? Brutally murder someone!
  The thing is... Killing people isn't always that easy. What if you're a good person? What if you like the character? What if you just need some pointers on how to do it right?
  You're in the right place... I have plenty experience along these lines.

1. What If I Like The Character? 

•   Ask Yourself... Is This Necessary? Is it necessary to the plot to kill this character? If that character lives, will they inhibit the plot from moving forward or will your main character have no reason to move the plot forward? If you don't want to kill a character, check that it's a need to do. See how their death or life affects the story moving forward. Sometimes that character is just destined to die, sometimes that death is unnecessary. And be honest with yourself here, if you aren't then your book WILL have problems! 
• It's All In Your Head. Yes, I just said that. I know how real your characters can feel, how much you can genuinely love them, but be real with yourself. They're a piece of your imagination, and some words on a page. Killing them doesn't actually kill them, they're not real. And technically they live on forever in the chapters where they're alive. If it makes you feel any better, of all the characters I've killed, I think I've been upset for about five minutes and then that was it. 
• Outline, Plan, Whatever You Wanna Call It. If you outline your story before you write it, you should know who's going to die and have time to prepare for it. Or even better, give that character quirks that annoy you (More on that in a second!) But anyway, if you know that they're going to die, you're less likely to get attached to them. 
• Make Them Personally Hate-able. By this, I mean make them say phrases that annoy you, wear colors that you hate, etc. Don't make them excessively rude, or make cruel jokes, but just give them subtle little things that annoy you personally. For example, if I'm going to kill a character, they might wear bright yellow, use the word pet peeve, spell words out like T . H . I . S, or be indecisive. All of those things might mean nothing to my reader, but seriously, by the time I get to killing them I'll be happy just because I don't need to be annoyed anymore! 

2. What If Killing Isn't Your Thing? 

• Reconsider Writing That... If killing off fictional characters makes you upset... Then first of all, you must be some kind of angel, and second, maybe you shouldn't be writing this book. Reconsider your story, see if there's another way you could motivate your character, etc. 
• Do It Subtly. If you were explaining a death to a two year old, are you going describe the bloody details or are you just going to say "She's gone now." ? You don't need to graphically describe the scene, or even have your character witness it, unless it's necessary somehow.  You can just make it simple, someone comes up and says it simply, "They died in a car accident." 
• Practice. Yep, practice. After a while, you won't even be phased by it. Whether you write scenes that'll never be used or if you just stick it out in your book, you'll get used to it. Trust me. 

3. Tips For Death Scenes. 

• Don't Overdo It. I love blood and guts as much as anyone; one of my characters gets their guts eaten by rats while they're fully conscious. Fun, right? But don't overdo it. If each chapter has buckets of blood, not only are you going to seem unrealistic because where's all that coming from?! But there are three kinds of readers... The ones who will become numb to the blood and find the rest of your bloodbath kind of boring, the ones who will be sickened and stop reading your book, and the sadistic people who you really don't want to give those kinds of ideas to. So definitely do blood and guts, just not every chapter and not overly dramatized. 
• Avoid Cliches. I shouldn't even need to say this, but I and every other writing blogger/YouTuber/etc. out there actually does need to say it. Avoid cliches. Does the dying character grab your main character's hands and desperately choke out their undying love or some cryptic message? It's cliche. I could think of quite a few stories that do this, and actually I don't remember any of the titles because they all have such similar plots and all that they aren't memorable. Make something newer, unique, or even just a twist on a cliche. (Cliches are cliches for a reason; to a point people love them! But once they've seen the same basic thing twenty times, it gets old. Make your own version of an existing cliche!) 
• Get A Visual. No, don't kill someone, but you'd be surprised what kind of pictures you can find online. Look up wounds and dead bodies and whatever you need, because you get to describe that and the better you know what it looks like the better. Use details. 
• Read. The more you read, the better. Read death scenes, take what you like and dislike about them and use it. Does it make you cry? Analyze that and recreate it, emotion is the ultimate thing to go for in your writing! If your reader feels emotion, which they should at a death scene, then you're doing your job and they're more likely to recommend your book to other people! So find what makes you emotional, and use that. 
• Here's For Realism. Here's some sad tips from someone who's actually seen death. Yes, horrible, I know, but here's to being realistic - The last breath is usually not a deep breath, or any different from any other breath, except that it's not followed by another. Shaking the body feels extremely disrespectful, unless your character doesn't know that the person is dead don't make them do that. And from a medical standpoint, still don't have the body be shaken because it would further injure a hurt person. Flies arrive surprisingly fast, and they're a repulsive detail. Use that. Dead bodies literally smell just like garbage in a dumpster. If someone happens to drown in frozen water, their eyes lose all color and turn a milky white. Stiffness (rigor mortem) takes place fast, like in under five minutes. If someone (an animal, like a cat) gets hit by a car, the body isn't just a bloody mess. Bones stick out, it's like a bloody pulp with fur and bones in it. Blood doesn't stay bright red and runny for long, it clots really fast and turns into more of a dark rust or reddish black. When you see a dead body, there's a shocking sense of how it's just a body and not your friend anymore, it's just different somehow. The disbelief comes later. 

And that's what I've got for you on death. It sure is fun, isn't it? And here's a last tip - Things happen fast in these scenes a lot of the time, especially if it's a fight, so be sure that your reader can keep up!

Funny Writing Quotes and Stories

  We all need a good laugh every so often... So before I go into my whole killing characters, writing gory scenes, writing horror, and all my Halloween things, here's some funny humor!
  Not all of this will be funny to all people, but most (fiction) writers should get a kick out of it... Some short stories, some quotes I find on Google, but nothing that I don't personally find funny!

1. 

  My Sister: "Okay, so I'm doing a 30 day Halloween drawing challenge. So if you see pictures of my character gouging their eye out or something, don't worry." 

  Me: "Oh, don't worry about it." 

  Sister: "So you're not gonna think I'm crazy or something?" 

  Me: *looks up from writing the scene in my book where rats eat someone's intestines while they're alive and conscious* "Oh no, not at all." 

3. 

  *writes all day and gets stuck* 

  *spends hours trying to figure out what needs to happen* 

  *tries to go to bed... GOT IT!!* 

  *seriously regrets the fact that I share a room and can't stay up all night* 

  *forgets by morning* 

2. 

  Me: "Hey guess what! I'm revising that book I wrote a year ago that  you liked, it'll be like a totally new book and so much better!!" 

  Friend: "Wow, cool! Can I be in it? Can this character not die? Can I have a free copy when it's done? 

  Me: *having almost finished revising and having zero reason to add in another character, knowing full well that that character can't live because it destroys the plot, and having $0.45*  "Right... I'll see what I can do."  *while rolling my eyes because none of that has any chance of happening*

4. 

When you have more novel ideas, outlines, and maybe half-finished manuscripts than friends. 

5. 

I could insult anyone from the 1800s accurately. I could also insult anyone today and they'd have no idea what I mean, and then I can walk away laughing. Right, I mean, who knows the difference
between a vazey, fustilarian gnashnab and a murit old church bell? I do!


Thanks Jamie, I love the insults from your era.

6.

Being a dancer and a writer sucks. Because music is my inspiration for both.

7.

Anyone: "So what's your book about?"
Me: "Have a seat..."
*two hours later*
Anyone: *asleep*
Me: "...So now she's really messed up, and is trying to push everyone away, and - Oh, I'm probably giving away too spoilers, sorry! Or... Being boring... Okay."

8.

My sister: "Hey, let's look at funny stuff on Instagram!"

Me: "Okay, go get your tablet."

Sister: "No, it's dead, let's just use your laptop."

Me: "No! Let's get... Oh my tablet is dead too... Okay fine."

Me: *types I*

Search recommendation history: Insults from the 1800s

Sister: "Why were you looking up that? Hey I have an idea!" *grabs laptop* *types H*

Search recommendation history: How long does boom-slang snake venom take to kill you? How do you make someone unconscious with your hands? How much does someone bleed when you stab them in the stomach?

Sister: "Oh, wow. What are you doing?"

Me: "Maybe if you read my book you'd know."

9.

*listening so closely to how people talk that you forget what they're trying to tell you*

10.

Writer's Block: When your imaginary friends won't talk to you.

11.

Me: *having conversation with fictional character in real life to get used to how they talk and stuff*

*door opens*

Me: "I'm not talking to myself!"

Whoever came in: "Well... Who are you talking to?"

Me: "Sabrina and Jamie."

....: "Who??"

Me: "The main characters in my book, we were talking about how much of a bad experience flashbacks and hallucinations are."

.....: "....They aren't real, how are you having a conversation? And why would you know any of that stuff?"

Me: "How rude... You obviously aren't a writer, and obviously haven't been reading my book!"

12.

How do you irritate a writer? the list is to long too fit hear

13. 

If you hurt me or anyone I love... I know 5 ways to knock someone unconscious without a weapon, millions of countless ways to kill you, exactly how to avoid suspicion while perfectly framing your parents/bf/gf/friends, and if necessary how to make it look like you had a heart attack without drugs. It's for your own good when I say leave me alone. 

14. 

  In response to #13, that's all assuming I have the physical strength, balance, and accuracy to do what's needed. Which I know every detail of, but considering that my fingers and hands are the single used part of my body I don't know how successful I'll be. 

And that I wouldn't be tempted to taunt the cops to feel like my book characters. 

And that I mentally have what it takes, because I have more experience dealing with the after-effects of murder than carrying it out. 

So basically... Pretend I'm scarier than I am because I have knowledge. 

15. 

  If you're anything like me,  you like words more than numbers, which is exactly why you didn't notice that I switched 5 and 7. 

Did you just go check? Good. Because it was actually 2 and 3. 

Did you check again? Well congrats, that changed your whole life a lot. Numbers always do. Numbers are useless... 

How To Write Unique and Realistic Character Voices

Characters... Potentially the most important part of your book. Meaning that what they have to say is important! How you make them speak is also important, both in making them believable and in making them memorable.
  But how . do you do that? Aren't words just words? NOPE! Here's how I make my character's voices...

1. Background Info

  Background information about them is great for this! Obviously, some rich kid is going to speak different than someone who grew up in the slums... So use this to your advantage. Where does your character come from? How do they want others to see them? Do they care about using offensive language? Etc. 

  Basically... Just get to know your character. That alone will give you a lot of information as to how they should talk. 

2. Uniquify! 

  Just like that word up there... Make it different. Give them some word that they use a lot, make them use big words that nobody knows just to mess with their friends, or... I don't know, but be creative! 

  Some good examples of this are in Brandon Sanderson's Steelheart; one character is constantly using ridiculous metaphors, and another somehow has both an Irish (Or Scottish, I forget...) and southern accent, at the same time. 

  Just give them some quirks. Ideally that make sense to their character, but you know, whatever works! 

3. Do Something Funny and Maybe Mean... 

  Go beyond the stereotypes and do something your character will hate... Make it funny. Make your villain have some ridiculously high pitched voice, which is why they love robots so much, because he can change his voice! 

  Don't do this to all your characters... But if it makes sense and you can, then great! Give them a reason to always be so quiet! 

4. Study How People Talk

  Go out in public, watch a YouTube video, whatever works for you, and listen to how people talk. The phrasing, what kind of words they use now, if they talk in complete sentences or keep breaking them off, everything! That's how you make speech realistic! 

  Also, make sure you're studying the right group of people... Mom's aren't going to say "O.M.G. that is like, so kawaii!" and likewise, teenage boys aren't going to speak kindly and cleanly when they're all alone or nobody around can/will get them in trouble. 

5. My Personal Biggest Problem...

  My personal biggest problem is that I write teenagers, and most teenagers these days have potty mouths and have no issue talking about things that shouldn't be said... 

  I actually do have a problem with that, despite the fact that I am a teenager. But I'm a teenager who has never cussed, is mortified at the thought of it, and anything more descriptive than "They kissed." makes me feel like not reading the book. So write about that? Nope! 

  This poses a problem, however, because realistically people cuss and all. So how do I make my characters realistic and keep up with my own moral standards? Here's how... 

  Firstly, I've noticed in some books it's perfectly okay to say "He swore/she cussed/etc." whenever that's supposed to happen. That's what I do, if the character must do so that badly. 

  Second, I made one of my main characters come from the 1800's, and therefore he uses 1800's slang. "Vazey fustilarian gnashgab! Is what he calls people he hates. The worst swear word he's ever said is dammit, and that's because he just doesn't know anything worse. He also works as a nice filter for my other main character, who does occasionally cuss given that she's a teenager from the 2000's, and he just explains what she says as "Words I don't know the meaning of but don't sound like they're a compliment." Still, he doesn't use some of the worse language from that time, but unless someone who's an expert on the 1800's reads the book I doubt anyone will know. 

  Thirdly, I just put them in a world where things are different. In worlds that aren't like earth, or earth in the future, or whatever, you can say whatever you want. Give people new cuss words, whatever! 

  But yeah, if you know any other ways to avoid using those kinds of things in writing I would LOVE to know!! 

Also, if you know any more ways to write good character voices I'd love to know that too. New stuff is great! 

The Greatest of Random/Weird/Dumb Writing Questions

  In honor of all the weird things about writing... Here are weird and random questions related to writing! Some of these you might wonder where I got, some you might've thought yourself and not even realized it was weird.
  So here we go, let's see what a procrastinating mind with a fever can possibly come up with...

1. Does Math Help With Writing? 

  Well let's see... NO. Or that's what my mind says, because I love writing and hate math so in no way can they have any relation to each other. 

  But, as usual, opinions are wrong. That's why nobody ever takes them seriously. Math can help you with writing, because in novels there's thing called a word count that matters, or if you have some immortal 592 year old character who's asked what his exact birthday is you might wanna be able to subtract... 

  That, and using your brain in any way just makes it overall stronger, meaning that Mental Abuse To Humans toughens up your brain... 

  And by the time your done, writers block is obliterated, you just wanna do anything but math!! 

2. You Know Your Character's Aren't Real, Right?

  Well then! I can scientifically prove you wrong! 

  The whole world is light reflected back at your eyes that your brain interprets into a picture. Meaning that the world is basically only what your brain says. And my brain is pretty obviously telling me that my book characters are real! 

  That wasn't enough for you? Well how about this: Define real. To me, real is anything I can experience in any way. And I can experience my characters and anything they experience. Here's some stuff to think about... If someone you love has died, are they not real? You can't see, hear, touch, taste, or smell them (I hope!) but they're still real, right? You can still think about them and love them? Yep. 

  Same with my book characters, I'm more obsessed with them than anyone I know in real life as of now! Just because they're thoughts and memories doesn't mean they aren't real! 

  (I don't know whether or not I explained that adequately or not, and I had another point but I forgot it... Maybe I'll come back and edit this when my brain is functioning better.)

3. Do Writer's Write Their Fantasy and Self-Insert?

  Um, I dunno about other people... But I don't really want my parents to ditch me after a traumatic event that includes me killing someone and go to a prison where you stay until you die very quickly, and have various mental disorders... Sure it all turns out okay, but why would I want to do that? 

  Why would Suzanne Collins want to be entered in a tournament where she fights to the death with kids? 

  Why would Stephanie Meyers want her unborn baby to break her spine? 

  Why anything! Man, whoever says this either reads a lot of romances that have not nearly enough drama, or you are like, crazy? I dunno... 

4. Why Are You So Protective Of Your Laptop? What Are You Hiding? 

  Lemme see... Is it the search history? Maybe some of the images I downloaded for book covers? Or is it the actual book, which cannot be seen until's it's been edited? 

  Probably mostly the search history, here are some of my most recent searches: 

• How long does boomslang snake venom take to kill you?
• How much radiation does it take to serious mutate someone?
• How much does it bleed when someone gets stabbed in the stomach?
• Why does nobody know the answer to how much you bleed from getting stabbed in the stomach? (Really though, I don't care how long before they die, how much do they bleed??)
• How do plants grow? 
• How do you give someone PTSD?
• How to make someone unconscious with your hands (Descriptive, I know...) 
• Did people cuss in the 1800's? 
• 46 - 24 answer

See what I mean? Nobody should ever know that! Which is exactly why I'm putting up for public viewing! 

  Yeah, so... Now you know, stop trying to find out my secrets that I hide on here! 

5. Do Writers Love Their Characters? 

  Well duh, no! We only took exactly months finding out every detail about and writing the story of people we hate! Why on earth would we create characters that we love when we could hate their guts instead? 

  Okay, excuse my sarcasm. That's my humor, offensive or no, if you haven't noticed by now! Anyway, most of the time we writers love our characters to death! Literally! 

  But... There are some exceptions... For me, at least. Those are either when the character is destined to die, is just the overall jerky bad guy, or one special situation I'll explain in a second... 

  If a character is going to die and I've planned that from the beginning, I make them be someone I'd personally hate. I make them use words I hate (ex. pet peeve, O.M.G., etc.) I give them a personality that both matches the story and makes me want to scream, and usually they wear yellow... By the time I get around to chapter death, they're good to go! Make it stop!!! 

  The bad guy... I dunno, sometimes I like them okay, but often times they're like a destined-to-die who's on the opposing side and may or may not actually die. But most of the things that make people bad, like being selfish or sadistic or something, are things that bug me. 

  Then there's that special case there... I'm not going to point fingers or anything (Avoiding prejudice!), but girl I made you and your guy! And I kind of regret letting you have him!! So... Maybe go die? Please? Except I can't kill you because that defeats the point of the story... 

6. Are You All Poor? 

  Yeah, Stephen King and J.K. Rowling and Stephanie Meyer and Suzanne Collins are pretty poor... I know, thousands to millions isn't a lot... 

  C'mon people, sure some of us are poor... Like me. But that doesn't mean we don't have potential or that it's impossible!! 

7. What's So Great About Writing? 

  Here's my personal list: 

• I can be whoever I want in writing, literally. Same way readers immerse in the story while reading, I do while writing. Maybe even more than readers, because I don't remember ever feeling the same panic, pain,  and all as my characters to the point of having to stop when I'm reading. 
• Creative outlet. Best ever, in my opinion! 
• The clicking sound keys on a keyboard make. 
• Knowing almost unjustifiable creepy facts, like exactly how certain serial killers murdered people and what it looks like.
• Psychology chance of all chances... I CAN DO ANYTHING!!!! 

Do you have any questions about writing? Weird, useful, or otherwise? Because I would love to answer them! (I don't bite, unless you happen to come to my prison >:) Don't worry!) Questions or comments are welcome! Hate is also welcome, as long as you don't mind my sarcastic replies. Thank you!! 

My Favorite Things About Being A Writer

  While there's good and bad in everything you do, and I've already talked about some of the things that suck about writing... (That's just amateur writing, not writing for a living!) It's time for everything I love about writing!
  Some of these are kind of universal writing things, some of these are things that I've never heard before, but they're all things that motivate me to keep writing!

1. Being Someone Else

  True, most of my characters are treated extremely horribly, many have some sort of mental disorder (I mean, Jamie has PTSD and Bree has Trauma Induced Amnesia, those take quite a bit of trauma to get...) So it's not like a want to be them, have their life, or anything along those lines. But as someone interested in psychology, I LOVE making complex characters, backstories, and being able to delve into someone else's mind and understand everything perfectly. And I generally do this to the point that I feel like I am that character, and sometimes even experience physical symptoms of what's going on for them (Only when I'm writing them; I don't randomly get Jamie's flashbacks in the middle of my day or anything! I'm not that crazy!) Which honestly, even though feeling what I make them go through can suck, I think it's the most amazingly awesome thing about writing. 

2. Venting

  I don't always do this when I write, but if I happen to be furious at the same time that my characters are... Well they're gonna be spitting venomous hatred at whoever messed with them! Sure, I write some pretty good emotions when I don't really feel it... But there is nothing better than when a character and I agree. 

  That's not even to mention that by the time I'm done, I can easily detach from the emotion. The anger is all Bree's now! Not mine anymore, and it won't bug me again. 

3. Conveying All Of The Things

   I also love to convey messages, share my thoughts with people and all... And so I use my books to do exactly that! Whenever I have some thought that I want to share with the world, I see if it'll fit into any of my current projects smoothly, and if not I write it down and promptly lose the piece of paper!
  But yeah, that's why John Green is one of my favorite authors. I love how each of his books has such a deep, "WOW" kind of message. That right there is my aspiration.

4. That Heart Attack

  Oh, you know when you give someone your completed work that you put a lot of time and heart and life into? Yeah, that heart attack. When you're so scared and excited and just can't wait... I love that feeling. Most people seem to hate it... Like, have anxiety just from that, but I guess I'm one of the few people who thinks that's the most exciting and alive feeling ever.
  Either I experience that differently than others, or I'm sadistic towards myself (There's probably a real word for that, but I can't find it, so you just have to be smart enough to get the idea!)

5. Every. Single. Song. 

  Every single song I listen to reminds me of either a book or a character. And that's awesome. No more needs to be said about this.
  Except I love it. I love relating everything to my characters.     

6. The Danger! *Gasps* 

  Have you seen the newest news thing?! Oh my gosh, somebody was killed by writing! They thought it was just a minor injury, but within 48 hours they were dead!! I mean, writing is so dangerous! Why would anyone want to do that?! 

  Nah, just kidding. Writing is one of the best activities ever that really can't hurt you in any way... Never mind kill you. I've never gotten hurt from writing, and I haven't heard anyone who has! 

  As long as you don't suck and are trying to make a living writing garbage, you kind of really can't fail or get hurt here. It's so awesome!! 

7. Crazy

  Being crazy, that's the best. Not literally crazy, because crazy people aren't allowed to be a psychiatrist and that's what I want to do. But seriously, you can do whatever you want in your book world! And you're even allowed to be unusual in the real world; as in you can stutter and bounce around because you figured out a plot-point, or watch people in the name of research, or zone out randomly, or be shut away from the world for days because you're working on a masterpiece! That's all kind of expected from authors or anyone creative really, so yeah!!

  Plus I can be a murderer in my book. And even though writing someone into my book just to kill them is too much work... That's what short stories and flash-fiction are for!!