Writing Prompt #6

/ Sonora / Leave a comment

September is nearly over, autumn is in full swing, and let’s not forget November is only a month away–you know what that means. NaNoWriMo is coming!! Yes, it’s still ages away, but the time will pass before we know it, so why not start limbering up with writing prompts?! Or, if you’re just here to join in and have fun, that works too!

Today’s game: Double Up

Fusion of Snap Shot and Fire Starter!! Use both the sentence and the image to spark an idea for a flash piece. Continue reading →

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Dialogue 101

/ Sonora / 2 Comments

IMG_20180812_172236_01_01Dialogue is a powerful writing tool. It can help your writing in endless ways–build your characters, further the plot, spice up boring descriptions, develop empathy, draw in your reader. Honestly, if you aren’t writing dialogue, you should be.

That said, several people have told me they feel dialogue is their weak point–they can’t make it interesting, it doesn’t work, their characters sound stiff, it’s too much effort, etc. This isn’t how it should be! Dialogue isn’t that hard once you figure it out, and written well, it brings so many bonuses, you owe it to your writing to figure it out.

Here are my tips. Continue reading →

Writing Prompt #5

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Another Thursday rolls around and I don’t about the rest of the world, but summer seems to be truly slipping away in England. Here’s a summery(ish) writing prompt so we can all pretend the weather’s lying!

Name of the game: Snap Shot.

The rules: Stare at the picture. What does it make you think of? What story is it telling? Okay–thought of something? Good. Now set a timer to 10 minutes and start writing that story. Ready, set, go!

Screen Shot 2018-08-15 at 6.40.56 PM Continue reading →

5 Things I Do When Attempting to be Productive

/ Sonora / 5 Comments

5 Things I do When Attempting to be Productive -- productivity tips for your bullet journal https://sonorahillsauthor.comSometimes, I feel like the hardest thing in life is deciding what you want and then working towards those goals. I’ve been told I have good commitment, but when another evening rolls in and all I’ve done is eat and watch YouTube, it sure doesn’t feel like it.

When uni ended for the summer, I had all these great plans regarding my novels and this blog–I was going to work hard on my drafts, start getting friends to give me feedback, start posting weekly again… However, by the end of July, I’d basically done nothing. I then decided I was fed up with half-heartedly chasing my goals and I was ready to make a plan and get out there with that butterfly net.

So far, it’s going well. I know that a one-size motivation-plan doesn’t fit all, but getting me moving sometimes feels like beating a rock with a stick. So I’d like to share with you 5 things I’ve been doing this summer that (as of yet) seem to be working: Continue reading →

Quotes: parroted strings of meaningless clichés, or powerful gems from another’s mind?

/ Sonora / 6 Comments
Screen Shot 2018-08-07 at 6.59.43 PM

                               I like the implications of this quote: we use labels too simple to define us.

Social media seems to be fifty percent quotes these days.

Take Facebook for example–most of the posts I see in my feed are in the form of sentences written in curly letters across a picture. Most of these quotes are authorless with thousands of shares. I know some people who see these quotes and sigh, saying things like, “She has a strong, powerful voice of her own–why is she using these recycled clichés?” And I also know people who are passionate about quotes. They copy them down from books and conversations, TED talks and interviews, and love to share them with others.

What’s with all this quote sharing? Why are we doing it–are we sacrificing our voices to join the crowd or are we sharing the fact that we’re all humans with human emotions?

After thinking about this question, I’m not sure there’s an answer. But I did find some interesting points to ponder on. Continue reading →

Review of ‘The Haters’ by Jesse Andrews

/ Sonora

Screen Shot 2018-08-06 at 11.10.12 AMSex jokes, cynicism, and risky formatting choices all crammed together in a chaotic masterpiece of a book? Yes, please.

Not many books can make me laugh out loud in public, but The Haters did so repeatedly.

I’m a big fan of Jesse Andrews, ever since I saw the film version of Me and Earl and The Dying Girl and immediately bought the book. A close friend of mine pre-ordered The Haters and kindly lent it to me as soon as he’d finished*. So my expectations were very high, considering how much I loved Jesse Andrew’s first novel. Continue reading →

Star Wars: The Last Jedi–Where it Went Wrong and Where it Went Right

/ Sonora / 1 Comment

1512369111_star-wars-last-jediI know I wasn’t the only one who shelled it out for the midnight iMax showing of The Last Jedi–the eighth film of the most iconic sci-fi series of all time. And I also know I wasn’t the only one who found it a little bit disappointing upon closer analysis in the taxi home (spoiler-free review).

It is a visually stunning film and it’s Star Wars–don’t get me wrong, I liked it. If you’ve not seen it, you should.

But I did have a few issues with the complicated plot.

I considered trying to write a spoiler-free review, but that would make it difficult to get specific about the plot from a literary viewpoint–the entire point of this post. So prepare yourself.

(WARNING–contains spoilers. A lot of them.) Continue reading →