Teenage Lexicon

SPOILER ALERT! I went into this book absolutely engrossed in the Simonverse. After finishing Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, I just kind of sat there, staring at the last page, kind of in awe. I had read books with characters just as developed and complicated as Albertalli’s Creekwood teens, but somehow, these characters seemed different. More real . They were people I knew, not people I’d seen on some movie or read in another YA book.  So I was just a tiny bit nervous to read Leah on the Offbeat because I didn’t want to jeopardize this wonder. But I read it anyway, and I’m so, so glad I did. Leah on the Offbeat is in the point of view of Leah Burke, one of Simon’s best friends from Simon. But in Simon , the reader never finds out that Leah is a closeted bisexual. Her identity becomes a point of contention in the spin-off.  But it isn’t the entire book. Leah is not defined by her sexuality. It’s a big part of her, and it’s a big part of the plot, but that’s...

November has just drawn to a close, and lots of brave, successful writers have taken the beginning of December as the time to share their projects started or completed through NaNoWriMo.  But why, do you ask, am I not one of them? 2017 was my first, and last, year participating in NaNoWriMo. In theory, it seemed like a great idea. I had only a few chapters of Knowers Book Two completed, and I wanted to get more of it done. It seemed like a good way to get in touch with other authors and advance my skills. I signed up for it on November 3rd because I kind of forgot November was a thing until then. It took about three more days for it to become the bane of my existence. I was a junior in high school in November 2017. For those of you who have completed junior year, you know that this wasn’t the time to try to write 50,000 words of a novel. I was also in a musical that opened second weekend of November, editor of my school’s literary magazine, and taking three AP clas...

Ah, the bane of every writer’s existence: naming your characters. An extensive plot and coinciding subplots, subtle symbolism, and quirky dialogue may come extremely easy to you, but picking a name for your character is a completely different ballpark—in fact, it’s more like an ice rink. Your OCs are like your children, after all, and you want only the best for your children (unless, of course, you kill them off). In actuality, however, naming a character is simple if you don’t overthink it. But if the perfect name doesn’t come to you in your sleep like some sort of lucid dream, then here are some things you might want to try. 1. Keep an ongoing name list, even before you’re planning on a new character.   Every time you hear a name you like, you should jot it down somewhere. Maybe you’ve just met a Sadie in your chemistry class and you love her name. Or you’re watching the news and an anchor named Holden catches your attention. Just having a list in a journal or on you...

The worst thing about being a writer still in school is that you have to balance interesting things (i.e. writing) with terrible, awful, tedious things (i.e. homework). As summer draws to a close and I prepare to enter my senior year, it would seem I'm inundated by summer work.  Yes, all of it seems pointless. And to most students, it is. But to a writer, it's all inspiration, technique, and extreme amounts of getting out of your writing box. You get the opportunity to turn all of it from a waste of time into a progression of your skills. Here are some things to consider: 1. It makes you pick up a pencil every once in awhile. With the exception of essays, a lot of my work has to be done by hand. I actually kind of love it. All my artwork for my studio classes is so much better when handmade. My vocabulary flashcards for English look so much prettier than any computer could do. Math looks kind of cool when you do it all out. I’m not saying you should write y...

All of my posts used to be on Teen Author's Journal, but that has since shut down. So I've found this thing again, and I'm going to actually try to use it as a good outlet. I'll ACTUALLY post things (if I remember to). I have some summer left, so maybe I can make a few worthwhile posts. THE KNOWERS is on Amazon now, if anyone's interested. It's kind of interesting.  You can get it here.

This is my first year doing NaNoWriMo, and it's been quite the adventure for these past two days. I really want to get somewhere substantial on the Eminence, so I joined. I gave myself a goal of 30,000 words. I'm in my school's musical and have three-to-five-hour rehearsals every day until opening on the ninth, and I'm in three AP classes and two honors classes. I'm editor of my school's literary magazine, and submissions open this month, so that's going to be hectic. Obviously, I'm hoping to surpass my goal, but this is a good start. So let's see what happens this month.

There are two reasons I didn't post this week. 1. I went on vacation with my cousins. It was amazing. 2. I sent some stuff to an agent. My heart is still pounding. I'm going to post this week's Book of the Week and Dialogue Diaries within the next few days. Everyone, wish me luck.