#AmWriting

I had a strange dream yesterday morning which inspired me to start writing a short story. I haven’t written any stories since I was at school, though I have had plenty of ideas for writing books that I am collecting together. This story is completely unrelated to the fictional book that I want to write and which I have mentioned on the blog before.

The title at the moment is ‘Howard’s Gaol’ which is a fictional creation from my dream yesterday morning. I am hoping to have a first draft by the end of the week so I am going to finish this blog, drink my cup of tea and work out what music to listen to that will keep my within my creative state of mind.

The story currently has no real structure to it or an ending. I have my character who is currently very 2D with a name and a little bit of background. I’m just writing to see where the story goes and to see where I need to start improving in my storytelling if I seriously want to start writing fictional books.

I will keep you all posted on my progress. So far I am over 1000 words and have a rough introduction and two draft chapters that I am adding to. I am not giving anything other than the title away for now…

#blogging4charity – W is for Writing

One thing I would really like to do is to write a book. I have an idea of what I want to write about and I have now began some work on it. It’s a fantasy book that I started writing notes on while I was in my final year at university. I don’t want to give anything away though so I won’t give any plot ideas away.

I have begun working on the foundations and background so that I have a framework to work to. I am currently putting together the genealogies of the main families involved. From there I am making a timeline of their main family events such as birth, deaths and marriages. Once I have all the main families plotted out into a timeline then I plan on working on how to build the story around them. 

Writing a fantasy book?

I’ve always loved writing stories and poetry, but was very put off when I was at school. I was never happy with all the (Sp?) for poor spelling all over my work. I never grasped why my teachers didn’t just assess it on the story itself!

I have been thinking for a while about writing a fantasy book. I have never been a big reader, but I do have a great imagination. I started writing down ideas last year, most ideas coming from weird dreams that I’ve had. I know the basic idea of my story, I know most of the key plot twists and a background on some of the main characters.

Yesterday I decided that I would start putting my ideas down into One Note. I have started writing up the genealogy of the characters, partly based on what I know of my own family tree. I want to make sure that I have as much ‘history’ and background for my story so that the little world I create makes sense to me when I am writing.

As I have no experience in this kind of thing, I don’t know if the detail I am going into before I start writing is excessive or if all writers do the same?

Any advice or tips?

Dyslexia and Me: Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome/Irlen Syndrome Awareness Day?

A ribbon of my own design. The blue signifies dyslexia awareness while black and white are shades that I find especially difficult to look at. The coloured dots are my ‘pixel vision’

There are a number of events throughout the year raising awareness for dyslexia. The recent ‘guerilla’ campaign by Decoding Dyslexia to raise awareness through the tag #ShowMe1in5 through social media seems to have been pretty successful (there are still people sharing the links on Twitter a I write this blog). Also Dyslexia Advocacy Week has just passed where I shared a video per day featuring a variety of dyslexic people talking about their experiences and their progression and success. However, I want my blog to cover not only dyslexia, but also Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome aka Irlen Syndrome. Having searched on Google (as you do) I have been unable to find a specific day or week dedicated to raising awareness on this specific learning difficulty that has links to dyslexia. So for this reason, I have decided to set aside this weeks blog to discuss Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome in hope to raise awareness of what it is!

While 1 in 5 may have dyslexia, it has been suggested that 1 in 7 or as many as 1 in 6 of the population are affected by Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome. So here are some facts and issues linked to Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome to hopefully give you a better understanding of this specific learning difficulty.

Dyslexia and Me: Dear Teacher

Dear Teacher,

I wanted to write to you to thank you for inspiring me at school. My overall experience was very negative and your classes are one of the few things I remember with fondness. After I left school, I went back to college where I was diagnosed as dyslexic. That was the reason I struggled so much in your class, couldn’t keep up with the coursework and only handed in homework once in a blue moon. You predicted I would get a 4 in my Standard Grades, but I walked out with a 1. This was because your lessons were so inspiring and interactive!

Dyslexia and Me: The Superhero Inside

Anyone who knows me is aware that when it comes to essay time, I suddenly turn into The Hulk! Or as my boyfriend says ‘The Incredible Sulk’. I find writing excruciatingly difficult! I know what I want to say, but being able to get my ideas from my head onto a page, whether typed or handwritten, is extremely painful. Although I understand writing is difficult for all (which I have been told by non dyslexic students, much to my anger for their ignorance) but with dyslexia it really is an uphill battle. Not all dyslexics have the same problems. For example, my spelling is often on the same level as my non dyslexic family and friends, or sometimes even better! That wasn’t always the case though and I put it down to spending hours type talking to people over the internet without the lazy tlk lyk dis (I may have a rant about txt tlk at a later date). The areas I struggle in are writing and reading rather than spelling.