NaNoWriMo Day 8 – 2021

Welcome to week two!

The experience of week two can be wildly different for everyone. Maybe you’ve hit a good stride and are overflowing with ideas. Or maybe you are struggling to coax a story from your initial idea and find yourself boxed in.

My suggestion for the latter experience is to let yourself breathe a bit more. If you’re writing a serious period drama but really want to go on a tangent about gnomes, then do it. It may not fit the story, and it may not help the plot, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t let yourself write it.

Who knows, maybe it will give you the inspiration to write the crucial scene in your story. Or maybe it just needed some gnomes all along.

Remember, this is draft 0. Whatever happens can stay between you and the novel, because this isn’t about perfection. This is about ideas and words.

If you only have one–ideas or words–then just keep going with what you have and the other will come in time.

And if you don’t have either and don’t want to write anything, try a writing prompt.

Today’s writing prompt:

Cellar, drama, temperature, breeze, jaw

Use these 5 words to come up with a scene for your novel. Bonus points if you can use every word!

Hope you’re having a good Monday!

Are We Real Yet? — An Honest Look at Bisexual Representation in TV

Drawn by author

I often refer to my sexuality as the “invisible” one. Which is odd as bisexuals arguably make up more than half of the LGBT+ community. The issue is that for years there have been two options: you are gay or you are straight. And this ideology hasn’t gone away — depending on who my partner is, I am gay or I am straight.

As with all minority groups, representation in media is the first step to sloughing off our invisibility cloaks. But is bisexual representation really helping? Or is it just driving us further into the “pick a side” argument? I’ve chosen a few examples that I think highlight the strengths and weaknesses of bisexual representation in TV.

Continue reading

Content VS Creator

Can we still appreciate content made by a creator whose views and actions have inflicted harm on others? This question is by no means new, but it is still an important one. Numerous creators throughout history have been abusive, racist, or just generally unpleasant people. In the last few years, huge movements like #MeToo have outed many creators as sexual abusers over multiple creative industries. In light of 2020’s BLM protests and JK Rowling’s transphobic essay, I know many people are grappling with their feelings about art they consume. This post is not designed to convince anyone of what they should think, but as a series of thought experiments and a toolkit to help you make up your own mind. Continue reading

Why you should read bad books and watch bad films

If you want to write well, you’re told the best way to do this is to read good books and practice, practice, practice. What you’re not told to do is read the worst books ever written, but that is exactly what you should be doing.

Bad films are also good, especially if you enjoy writing screenplays or even filming and editing your own shorts. Why? Why am I telling you to waste your time on creations that should never have existed in the first place?

Because then you know exactly what NOT to do, which is arguably just as valuable as knowing what you should do. Continue reading

Why do I study biology instead of a writing degree?

Yup. This post is a day late. I’ve yet to purchase either time turner or Tardis, so such is my life.

Speaking of my life, what am I doing with it? I love stories above all else. I love to read and analyse and find patterns in plots and letters. People complain when we watch films together “Sonora, stop meta-watching”. So why am I not doing a literature degree? Or a creative writing degree? Or something “artsy”?

Well, here’s my rambling answer to that. If you’re currently trying to decide what to do with your life (i.e. what university degree to choose, or university versus all the million other things out there), then maybe my story will help you think about it. Continue reading

Don’t be stupid (like me)

When they tell you not to stick your finger into spinny metal blades, they REALLY mean it.

Yup. I’m speaking from very recent experience.

You know those stick blenders/stab mixers/hand-held blender things? It’s almost ironic that I don’t know what it’s properly called. Perhaps I should just go with piranhas…

Anyway, I really wanted guacamole, but the avocados really did not want to mush. Hence why I, the genius that I am, decided to blend them up and then stick my finger in the blades to unstick them whilst my other finger was over the button.

All things considered, I got off very lightly with some deep cuts. Plus, I got to experience the operating room whilst awake, because we all agreed that general anesthesia would be overkill for one little pointer finger.

And yes, I did try to watch, but their hands were always in the way… Instead, I had a nice chat with one of the assistants about what Star Wars film is the best (Rogue One).

To summarize, it was an exciting experience that would have been nicer with less waiting and less pain.

So don’t be stupid like me guys–keep your fingers away from… Piranhas or anything else sharp and spinning. Because, if nothing else, you won’t be able to write properly for a while and that sucks.

Am I a Writer?

Am I a Writer? - What is a 'real' writer and why you're allowed to call yourself one. https://sonorahillsauthor.com/

What is a writer? When can you call yourself one? And how do you get the world to?

We live in a world of titles, where the difference of a few words can offend or flatter–fire you or get you a job–make enemies or friends. Finding out who you are is a big part of accepting yourself, and telling others where your strengths lie or what your job is. But often, there’s a line between professional and unprofessional. If you took a summer course in first aid, you cannot call yourself a trauma surgeon–it wouldn’t make sense. But turn to creativity titles like youtuber or photographer, and the lines are very blurred. In many cases, I don’t think they even exist.

I call myself a writer. An author, even. Am I being presumptuous? Do I really “understand” what I’m talking about? Why am I not a bestseller? If I’m a writer, shouldn’t I at least learn how to write regularly scheduled blog posts?

Well… let’s discuss. What does it really mean to be a writer? Continue reading

Biology Projects – Tales and Tips From a 2nd Year Uni Student

Biology Projects - Tales and Tips from a second year uni student about fish, insects, and writing a good scientific paper https://sonorahillsauthor.com/I thought it would be fun to share some of the science I’ve been doing, especially because it involves words. When people think of biology, they tend to think of the experiments, not the hours spent trying to condense those projects into a legible and concise piece of art.

It may not be literary art, but writing good papers is still an art–you’re still telling a story. For this post, I’m going to attempt to break down a little bit of that story and also to talk about two of the fun behavioural studies I’ve been doing!

WARNING: contains big bugs, pretty graphs, some numbers, and twenty zebrafish. Continue reading

NaNoWriMo 2018

NaNoWriMo 2018-why you should be writing a novel this month https://sonorahillsauthor.com/From the exact moment this is posted, it will be two days and fourteen hours until NaNoWriMo. Or exactly 3,720 minutes.

It’s coming.

And I’m so excited!!!

For those of you who pay attention: yes, today is a Monday and I usually post on Thursdays. But not this month, folks. For November I will be posting every Monday with NaNo themed content–prompts, pep-talks, and commiseration galore–as well as my usual Thursday posts. For me, NaNoWriMo has always been about trying something new–this bi-weekly posting is new for me, we’ll see how it goes!

What will your new be? A lot of people’s reasons for not doing NaNo is based on incorrect facts. I’m not here telling you that you have to do it–I’m just going to tell you how you’re missing out, and why your reasons for not doing it are wrong. Because I’m nice like that. Continue reading

Literary Ethics–Age Restrictions and Writing Taboo Topics

Literary Ethics--should we subject books to the same age restrictions as films? https://sonorahillsauthor.com/Why don’t books have age restrictions?

Films do. Yes, you can buy that 18 and watch it at home in the secrecy of your room or let your kids watch it. But there is still a huge red number on the cover. Books occasionally have suggested reading ages, but for all intents and purposes, they have no age restrictions. Their content also has very little moderation.

A blind eye is turned on our “Teen novels”, classics, and especially self-published novels which often deal with disturbing, delicate topics like rape, violence against women and children, and minors having sex.

Is this okay? Continue reading