Writer of the Week #2: Chelsea M. Campbell

Check out Chelsea's book, The Rise of Renegade X!

Name:  Chelsea M. Campbell

Age:  29  (I'll be 30 in March!)

Website:  http://www.chelseamcampbell.com/

Location:  Seattle, WA

When did you realize you wanted to be a published author?
Er, I think I was four?  I've always LOVED books and stories of all kinds, and I remember making my mom join my fake book clubs when I was a kid, but I hadn't learned to read yet, so I had to ask her how to spell all the words.  I vaguely remember writing an illustrated book about a unicorn jumping off a cliff.

5 authors:  Sara Shepard, Jeff Lindsay, J. K. Rowling, Rachel Cohn, Patricia C. Wrede.

5 books: The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey, The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan, Feed by Mira Grant, The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness, Plain Kate by Erin Bow.

Where do you get your inspiration from?
Mostly from the feelings I get from stories.  Like when you're reading about one of your favorite characters or watching your favorite show and something really squee-worthy happens, whether it's something deliciously awful, or the moment when the romance finally works, or when a plot twist is just perfectly done--those moments are what inspire me to write my own stories.

What do you think is the best quality a writer can have?
Persistence.  Writing is a craft.  It takes time to learn, and everybody learns at their own pace.  Have faith that you'll get there, no matter what.

Any last words?
Write fast and dream hard.  Take risks.  Find a way to live by your own rules and don't let anyone else tell you different.

Challenge: Write a one-sentence story!
True story: once upon a time--pretty much every day, actually--my overly-cautious cat picked a fight with my brave cat and lost.


Thank you, Chelsea! If anyone would like to be a writer of the week, please follow the instructions here.

Ferris Wheel

I just finished draft #2 of chapter 2 from my novel. If writing draft #1 is fun, and is more of a method to spew out all of the ideas that you have, then draft #2 is the necessary step, in which you have to pay attention to all of the technical details, like plot holes, symbolism, importance of certain characters (in my case, I'm adding on a new character), scene weaves, and so on. The new character is the ten-year-old protege of the military general (though I'm currently wondering if he should be a marshal or a captain of the guards), who I mentioned in my blog rebirth post. His name is Veikko, which is a Finnish name that I thought suited him. He was adopted from an orphanage by the general, and is described as a dark-haired boy with "hollowed cheeks and colorless skin that made him look like a ghost."

During the middle of chapter 2, Veikko goes to an amusement park with my main character, Satu, who had just turned eleven years old in my novel. He's a very solemn, quiet boy, whose shyness is often mistakened by Satu for rudeness or a strong dislike of her. When Satu and Veikko go on the ferris wheel together, and the ferris wheel stops while they're up in the air, Veikko confesses to her that this is the first time he has ever felt what it's like to have a family, to go out and have fun with a family at an amusement park. He tells her, "I wish time would just stop, just like how this ferris wheel has stopped moving. If today never ends, then I can always feel happy." I guess one theme I'm exploring in the novel is how life is always moving, always fluctuating from happiness to sadness, and never ending, the way a ferris wheel always goes up and and down.

Here are two songs that helped me set the mood for my ferris wheel scene. The first is "Paranoid Circus" by Lyriel, and the second is "Perfect Stranger" from the Taiwanese drama TV show Black and White.

Writer of the Week #1: Jessica Marshman

Name: Jessica Marshman

Age: 18, just about 19

Website (if you have one): http://alterrnative.wordpress.com/

Location: British Columbia, Canada

When did you realize you wanted to be a published author?
I started writing stories when I  could actually start writing sentences and creating scenarios. When I was about 10 or so, I had a list of professions I wanted to join, all beginning with A, and Author was number one.  I believe one of my first stories, when I was probably six or so, was called B-Ball Girl, and was about some girl who overcame adversity by playing sports. Even though I got my lowest mark on a grade four provincial examination in writing - probably because I wrote a horror story - I kept on trucking, and have since written several full length novels, none of which have satisfied me until recently. My baby, Of the Arbour, is an epic adventure fantasy that I wholly intend to publish, one way or another.

Name 5 authors and 5 books
Diana Gabaldon (aka God), the Outlander series; Anne Rice, the Vampire Chronicles; JRR Tolkien, the Silmarillion; Rachel Aaron, the Legend of Eli Monpress; James Luceno, Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader

Where do you get your inspiration from? 

Everywhere and everything. Diana Gabaldon is my all-time, no questions asked, favourite author, and her writing inspires me to no end. I also do plenty of gaming, which encourages the fantasy juices to flow - games such as the Elder Scrolls and Dragon Age give endless character, plot, and setting ideas to work with. I  have an obsession with Star Wars that has been going strong for as long as I can remember; that vast universe is so easy to get lost in. Music lyrics, especially dark ones, help encourage writing scenes that match, like battles and deaths - which are two scenarios that frequent the pages of my stories.

What do you think is the best quality a writer can have? 

Every author brings something fresh and new to the table, but everyone needs dynamic characters and sound plots. Otherwise, not to bash or troll or start flaming the internet, we end up with Twilight. Characters need to progress and change, not only due to natural age progression and maturity, but also from traumatic or precious experiences. If they stay the same, with no real personality, the reader has a harder time relating to them and enjoying the full experience of the story.

Any last words? 

Put some of yourself into your main character, but don't be your main character.

Challenge: Write a one-sentence story! 

Myriad sparks of copper and saffron snapped and crackled as they sprung away from the depths of the embers to dance into the velvet-black sky, and to drift amongst the stars.


Thank you, Jessica, for your in-depth answers! If you would like to be a writer of the week, please read the instructions at this link: Writer of the Week inspiration, instructions, and example.

New Feature: Writer of the Week

I'm really inspired by the blogger La Carmina (a.k.a. Carmen Yuen), whose blog can be found here.. She graduated from Columbia University and Yale Law School with a JD, which proves that she's a total intellectual. She combines brains and beauty with her amazing wardrobe and travels and writings, as she is also a published author and has a fashion blog with an emphasis on gothic and Harajuku fashion. She used to have a featured called "Gothloli of the Week," in which she profiles girls and women who have gothic lolita inspiration in their wardrobe, and showcases each individual's style and interests in each post. You can find her Gothloli of the Week archive here.

La Carmina is smart, beautiful, ambitious, AND successful! Any reasons not to admire her?

Her feature inspires me to try something similar on my blog. Since I'm interested in connecting with  other writers, I'm thinking of doing a "Writer of the Week" feature, in which each post will showcase a writer's aspirations, inspiration, and writing style. I would be interested in profiling both published and non-published writers
If you would like to be profiled on my blog, please READ these instructions carefully!

*email me at authoressjo@gmail.com,

*attach at least one photo of yourself (feel free to submit more if you'd like. I would prefer it if readers knew who they were communicating with, as opposed to questioning a faceless enigma).

*answer these questions

• Name:
• Age (optional):
• Website (if you have one):
• Location:
• When did you realize you wanted to be a published author?
• Name 5 authors and 5 books (do not necessarily have to be your favorites).
• Where do you get your inspiration from?
• What do you think is the best quality a writer can have?
• Any last words? (Fun facts, comments, something you'd like to share with the world, etc.)
• Challenge: Write a one-sentence story!

Please spread this with anyone who you think should be shared with the world! :)

I guess I will use myself as an example, so that people can get an idea of what I'm aiming for.

Credit: Emily Nguyen Photography

Name:  Jo
Age: 19
Website:  My Caliber Magazine Author Archive
Location: California
When did you realize you wanted to be a published author?

I have always loved storybooks when I was a little kid, and, inspired by these magical objects, I decided to write my own books and illustrate them. When I found out that there was an occupation called an author, I thought, "That's what I'm going to do one day!"
Name 5 authors and 5 books.

Authors: JK Rowling, Neil Gaiman, Mary Wolstonecraft Shelley, Catherynne M. Valente, Lemony Snicket

Books: Frankenstein by Mary Wolstonecraft Shelley, A Certain Slant of Light by Laura Whitcomb, Faust by Goethe, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind, Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente

Where do you get your inspiration from?

Anywhere and everywhere! I think sources of inspiration are rather unpredictable. 
What do you think is the best quality a writer can have?

Willingness to grow
Any last words?

Tuomas Holopainen, the songwriter for the band Nightwish, is one of my biggest poetic inspirations!
Challenge: Write a one-sentence story!

The mermaid's pearls were milky-white and as delicate as tears, scintillating against the backdrop of the ocean like stars beaming in the evening sky.

Modeling Digression: Preview of Today's Carousel Shoot

In the long months that I have been absent from Blogthings, not only have a revived my novel-writing goals and become a college freshman, I now model part-time for fun.

From left to right: Emily, me, and Terry.

Today, I had the honor of doing my second collaboration with photographer Emily Nguyen (website here) and my third collaboration with makeup artist Terry Alabata (website here). We had a carousel-themed shoot at Zeum Carousel in San Francisco, by the Creativity Children Museum and Yerba Buena Garden. It was ecstatic to be part of it, and riding the carousel costs $3.00 for two rides. Definitely made the kid in me very giddy. Terry is a makeup genius, as well as a super-friendly and bubbly woman! Emily is such a talented photographer, (go check out her website and portfolio, and you'll see what I mean!) and super-creative with wardrobe (see the skirt I'm wearing? She created it in about ten minutes, and put it on me with staples. But it looks so pro, doesn't it?).

None of the photos are edited, but here's a sneak peak. ;)

My Novelist-Wannabe History

A bit of background of me as a writer: I started writing novels at age 11. Many of them fizzled out by the end of the first few chapters, but the first one I finished was when I was 13, written in a span of 4.5 or 5.5 months, and took up 1.5 composition notebooks. The second one was finished when I was 14, a few months before graduating middle school. However, they are both humiliatingly amateur fantasy novels, and I refuse to regurgitate the summaries. After penning these novels, I proceeded to submit query letters and (if requested) excerpts of my manuscripts to agents. They all rejected me, and looking back, I can definitely see why, and am now pretty happy that they were rejected. In fact, I still have the rejection letters floating around home...somewhere...

The pile of notebooks with a long history of novel-writing attempts.

Look at all those worn pages!

I still wrote in high school, but not as often as I would have liked, and was happy to use creative writing classes as excuses to write more. High school resulted with a lot more partially-written novels that I lost interest in (though as I look through the notebooks, I see some rather promising material that I can resurrect and utilize in the future...) Back in January, I started a novel about a doctor who tries to resurrect his dead sister with a headless doll, because he's convinced that she's the answer to a cure for the epidemic that's spreading in the city he lives in. But as I was writing chapter 5, I figured that I need some more life experience to write that novel, so it's currently on hiatus. But, in college, I'm still determined to make publication a reality, despite Berkeley's reputation for killer academics.

On Friday, I finished typing up a revision of chapter 1 of my novel. Yesterday, and up to today, I'm in the process of typing chapter 2. Lots of changes made, and to be made!

Blog Rebirth

My 19th birthday was 4 days ago (January 1, New Year's Day!). And just last night, at approximately 11:30 PM, I finished the draft of my novel! After 129 days, draft #1 is complete! (I began on September 1, 2011. I don't count outlining and planning, which took up a good chunk of summer 2011.) This is the third novel I have been able to complete in a long time.

My birthday cake. It has Chinese characters that say "Happy birthday." Hey, look, I'm a one-year-old aspiring novelist!

I know that this used to be an art blog, but so many things have changed since then. Aside from now being a UC Berkeley freshman, and blogging for their Caliber Magazine (my author archive is here.), I'm going after my dream to be a published novelist again. I tried way back in middle school with two novels I wrote, and with high school, I was so busy with academics and my art portfolio that I didn't get to do much novel-writing. Two authors who have inspired me to resume novel-writing are Erin Morgenstern, author of The Night Circus, and Lauren Oliver, author of Liesl and Po. My own novel is middle-grade, and I hesitate to say "fantasy," because I don't want readers to suddenly harbor pigeon-holed ideas that my story is paranormal/cliched forbidden romances/Mary-Sues who become "the Chosen One,"/save the world,  and so on.

To save time, I'll say this much for now: It involves...

*an eleven-year-old girl with a functioning keyhole upon her neck

*a paraplegic tarot-reading princess

*an obsessive military general and his ten-year-old protege

* a world that's a mish-mash of the French Revolution, the Russian Revolution, fairy tale magic, and steampunk.

In the meantime, I have been obsessing over the Liesl and Po book trailer, which I will share with you. The song in it, called "A Train With Wings" is particularly touching, and the animation of the actual illustrations by Kei Acedera from the book is so beautiful!

Until next time...<3