Greetings from South Africa!

Disclaimer: This blog reflects my opinions and observations, and my opinions and observations only. Although I am a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant, I am not a member of the US Department of State, nor do any of my updates reflect the US Department of State in any official capacity.

Hi everyone,

I’ve been in South Africa for three full weeks now: 1 week of orientation and 2 weeks of teaching. Here’s a quick update on how things have been.

After being reunited with the other ETA’s, some at the airport and others at the hotel, we had orientation, during which we visited a local primary school and heard speeches from various education officials. It was great seeing the other ETA’s again. We hadn’t seen each other since June, but luckily, we learned at orientation that there is a Fulbright conference in Ethiopia in April that we are all invited to. (It ends two days before my 23^rd birthday.)

I was initially supposed to be placed in Durban, but was switched to Pretoria in December, which means I am living relatively close to the embassy. The closest ETA’s are in Jo-burg, but others are as far away as Port Elizabeth and Cape Town. Everyone at the embassy has been so generous and welcoming thus far. I really appreciate all the support we have received.

I spent my first weekend getting furniture for my apartment. The apartment is very secure, but has no furniture, no fridge or microwave and no free wifi. It also only has a bathtub, with no shower and the detachable shower heads they sell at the hardware store don’t fit. The good news is there is a gym in the same area as my apartment, so I can shower there. They also have computers that patrons can use. The Laundromat is small and you have to let them wash your clothes for you rather than doing it yourself, so a load of laundry costs 66 rand or just over 8 dollars. So far laundry is the only thing I have found to be overly expensive. Rent, gym membership, and food are all reasonably priced.

One of the highlights of my time here, other than teaching, of course, was the Lincoln Premiere. The Pretoria and Jo-burg ETA’s were invited to the South Africa premiere of the movie Lincoln. It was a wonderful event. Great hors d’oeuvres, some funny photo opportunities, and some great books about the US that will be helpful when I’m teaching. The free popcorn and soda during the movie was a pretty sweet deal too. J I also “almost” won a door prize. Key word being “almost.”

Last weekend, the Jo-burg ETA’s and I went to Ukatula Lion Park (which was supposed to be a one hour and 15 minute drive, but took much longer. Thanks Google.) It was a wonderful experience though. We got to play with 5-month-old lion cubs, pet a 4-year-old cheetah, and hold newborn lion and tiger cubs. It was incredibly fun, definitely worth the trip. I’m just really glad I wore jeans that had some give to them because lion cubs are a lot like puppies—they like to nibble. The only thing that would have made it better is if the workers would have let us hold the baby lions like Simba in the Lion King, but no, you have to support their butts. (Goofy tourist moment, what can I say?)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although I am living in Pretoria, I am teaching at a high school in the township of Atteridgeville. This term, I am co-teaching two grade 8 classes, two grade 9 classes, three grade 11 classes, and one grade 12 class. Next semester, I will be working with the grade 10’s.

The students have been incredible so far, very helpful and very eager to learn. Unlike in the States, students are not grouped by ability level, such as AP, honors, etc. Instead the older grades are grouped by their interests. From what I can tell, it is similar to how students are grouped by major in college. Also, the class sizes in South Africa are much larger. My grade 12 class has roughly 24 students, but the grade 8 classes have over 50, and not all the students have chairs and desks. Also, because of the large number of students, the students stay in their classrooms and the teachers move from class to class. I am still getting accustomed to having to bring my eraser and chalk with me to class. My “office” is in the library.

I had to do several impromptu lessons the first two weeks. To my credit, I remembered a great deal of To Kill a Mockingbird, a book I read as a sophomore in high school, enough to do a 90 minute lesson on it with about 30 seconds notice. I also taught a lesson on direct and indirect speech to all my grade 11 classes. Now they are learning to outline a 5 paragraph essay, which they love…not. The grade 9’s are learning to identify the main point, topic sentence, and supporting evidence of paragraphs, and will be doing some creative writing next week. Assuming I can get my hands on some index cards, I’ve got some games I want the grade 8’s and my grade 12 class to do.

As for the students themselves, they all had a wide range of questions for me, everything from do I know any celebrities to how do I do my hair. I am trying to learn conversational words and phrases in Sepedi (Northern Sotho), one of the 11 official languages of South Africa, and the mother tongue of most of my students. Many of them speak Zulu as well. Some have English names, but many don’t. That combined with the number of students I have, is making it hard for me to remember names, something I’m usually very good at. Luckily, they are being very patient with me.

I am starting my martial arts club this week. ETA’s are required to do one extra activity during their grant. The club is mine. I also work at a reading room on Fridays, where my co-ETA and I are leading a “girls club.” We are hoping to start a creative writing group at the high school soon, but in the meantime, we will be doing some creative arts projects at the reading room. Half the girls want to have a debate and the other half wants to put on a play.

Check back in a couple weeks for another update!

- Beth

Getting to Know Your Characters

Do your characters come to you fully formed? Mine usually do and I, after outlining the plot, usually just jump write in. The problem is that sometimes I don't know my characters as well as I think I do. I let the plot, not the characters, drive the novel. I have a little exercise that can help.

In the interest of full disclosure, when I first did a project similar to this in my undergrad, I thought it was the dumbest thing EVER, but when I had to teach a creative writing class on characters this past fall, I used the exercise and found value in it.

For the class I taught, I brought in an episode of The Big Bang Theory. It was a grad class, so it was okay to have a show with inappropriate jokes, but for a HS class, I would choose something else. As a group, we answered the questions based on what we saw of Sheldon's character in the clip.

I then had the class answer the questions based on a manuscript they were working on and once done, asked what the easiest and hardest questions were to answer. One person said the hardest question to answer was "who was your character's first love?" and another responded that was the easiest for her. This just goes to show that each character and each story requires different questions. What might be helpful to some is useless to another, so when doing these questionnaires, feel free to skip questions.

To do the exercise, take out a piece of paper and answer any of the following. The first ones are basic biographical questions. The rest are more thought provoking.

1.Name
2. Hair color
3. Eye color
4. Height/weight
 5. Body type
6. Distinguishing features (freckles, scars, etc.)
7. Special jewelry/watch
8. Habits/mannerisms
9. Phrases frequently used
* the same bio can be done for family members or minor characters. Obviously you can add to the list.

Other Questions
1. Who was your character's first love?
2. In what situation would your character be a hero?
3. What is their biggest fear?
4. What is their greatest desire?
5. How do others view your character? What is his best quality? Worst?
6. How does your character view himself? What does he think his best/worst qualities are?
7. What were or are his career aspirations? (For a teen character, this could be what college do they want to get into etc, or maybe he just wants to pass math. The questions are flexible.)
8. What are his hobbies?

Obviously there are many more questions one could ask, but this is a good starting point. Sometimes when I get stuck in my writing, I ask myself these type of questions about my character to know how he or she would react in a situation.

I am currently watching Alias and saw a great example of this. Marshall is a tech guy, who has never flown. He also has a photographic memory. In what situation would he be heroic? When his photographic memory is needed to remember a code. He did and in the episode he was captured. On the plane, he admitted to having built a parachute into his jacket with a tandem cord. On route to the mission this seemed completely illogical, but by the end of the episode, he and Sydney were trapped and needed it so they could jump out of a 40 plus story window. Not only was Marshall the unlikely hero, but the parachute was a Chekov's gun or sorts. Never introduce something that won't be used.

Do you do character profiles? What questions do you ask?

-Beth

Writing: Things I've Learned Along the Way

Not in any particular order, but here you go:

1. Not everything is ready to be published.

I wrote and self-published four books when I was in high school. I was self-publishing before it became a trend, lol. As a young writer, I didn't really understand the true value of many drafts, revision, and editing. I've learned that it is important to push yourself and stretch your creativity, but not everything you write is going to be a bestseller let alone worthy of literary representation. Choose a project you feel passionately about and give it the TLC it deserves. It's important to know when to move on, but it's also important to know when to stick to it. There is no formula for this. It comes from within. I started Picking up the Pieces (now Podium Finish) in 2006. I self-published it in 2008. I thought it was done and I tried to move on. I've written other things, and completed college as a student athlete with A's in the process, but no matter what I did, I knew PUTP could be better, so I went through revision spurts. The manuscript today is a thousand times better than it was and is COMPLETELY different. Moral of the story: don't give up on a project you love. Other moral of the story: the other things I've written in the past few years are not ready to pitch. Four years ago, I would have self-published. Self-publishing isn't a bad thing, but I've since learned that if I wouldn't feel comfortable pitching it, it is not ready to self-publish by my standards.

2. Good ideas take time.

I have been working on PF off and on for 6 years. I'm 22. You do the math. Obviously, not all books take this long, but I've learned a great deal about my strengths and weaknesses as a writer along the way and this will be useful information when I start my next project (AKA my grad thesis, a middle grade novel.)

3. Get beta readers.

Get beta readers or critique partners. These can be people in your workshop. It can be fellow writers you meet on line. Basically, find someone who is able to critique your work objective. Obviously friends and family can be helpful, but remember they're friends and family.

4. Find the bright side in critiques.

Being told "you have an excellent writing style, but I'm not connecting to the voice" sucks, but that person is telling you a strength and a weakness. Know what you do well and know what you need to work on. Don't beat yourself up at the rejection. Confidence waxes and wanes, but don't let it break you. Find the silver lining.

5. Query strategically.

This can be anything from putting the genre in the subject line like: Query (YA Contemporary) to FOLLOWING submission guidelines. Do your research. Agents will usually say on their websites whether or not they want sample pages and whether those sample pages should be attached or embedded in the body of the email. Don't stand out because you were the one who didn't follow directions. Also, send out 5-8 queries and wait for a response. This will tell you if you have a strong query letter. Also set up an excel spreadsheet that tracks who you queried, when, and the response. There are lots of agents out there and sometimes the query process can be overwhelming. A spreadsheet is useful and free.

6. Read.

My writing has greatly improved since I started reading more. I read mostly YA because that is what I write, but make sure to read a variety. I don't write dystopian, but I've read several that I like and have learned something from. (Divergent, Legend, The Hunger Games) These books have action and emotion which can be universal. I write YA sports fiction/YA contemporary. Action and emotion are important in that genre too. I write action well, but struggle with capturing emotion. Reading how published writers handle it has helped my writing. Reading YA Contemporary has also helped when I write YA boyfriend/girlfriend relationship scenes.

7. Stay connected.

There are several great blogs with reviews and writing tips. There are also lots of giveaways and contests, so stay connected to the writing community. I entered GUTGAA and won a 30 page critique. That person has since read more of my work. I also won a $10 amazon gift card (which I used to buy a book on Kindle and an episode of Homeland--just got hooked on that show.)

8. MFA's are great, but not necessary.

I just completed my first semester of grad school. I met some wonderful friends, and I know I will miss the workshops while I'm in South Africa. (I also know I'll be doing some pretty amazing things in SA.) I wish I had applied to more grad schools. I don't know that I would have gone to a different school because UBC was my top choice, but I have recently found other schools with strong programs that I hadn't heard of and wish I had. I thought I needed to go to grad school. One because I had such a strong academic background, it was something I expected of myself and thought others expected of me. Two, I didn't think I would do well with a gap year. I now realize that I would have done fine if I hadn't gone straight to grad school. I was actually the youngest in the program--one of three 22-year-olds. That being said, I think I made the right choice. I also know I don't need an MFA to be a good writer. It's something I'm doing for me.

9. Use dropbox.

It's a lifesaver.

10. Upload your book to kindle and listen to it when editing.

I already posted about this so I won't say too much more, but I did an edit then upload my manuscript to kindle and had it read to me. I caught typos that I had missed. Me instead of my. Of instead of off. Dropped words. Extra words. Having it read aloud helped so much.

-Beth

Winter YA Reads

I got my black belt on December 8th!

Before I continue, I should say I'm not a book blogger. I don't write super long, in depth reviews, but I adore people who do. That being said, I compiled a list of my favorite books from the fall a couple months ago, and, since I survived the end of the world (and if you're reading this, you did too, congrats, welcome to the club), I thought I'd do another list for winter. Most people use stars, but in honor of my black belt, I'm going to use belts. (The belts my martial art uses, so if you do another martial art and it doesn't match, that's why.)

Without further ado,

The Black Belts (equivalent to a 4.5 or 5 star rating)

Time Between Us by Tamara Ireland Stone

**Nothing I say will do this book justice, but in case you haven't heard of it, it's a YA time travel romance. Wonderfully written and tightly crafted. It also made me add Thailand to my travel list.

The List by Siobhan Vivian

**A fantastic look at HS drama. The narrative voice was impeccable, truly getting into each of the character's heads and capturing their motivations. Also, there is a large cast of characters and each one is complex and well-developed.

Something Like Normal by Trish Doller

**Male narrator done really well. This book is clearly well-researched. An overall great read. (Now, go to goodreads for a real review.)


The Brown Belts (4 star rating)

Jersey Tomatoes are the Best by Maria Padian

**I adore books with female athletes in them. This book is more for the younger YA crowd, maybe 14-16 years old, but it was cute and dealt with more than just sports. It's a story of friendship, family, and body image as well. The main characters are a tennis player and a ballerina.

To Read: Bunheads by Sophie Flack (another ballet story)


Not That Kind of Girl by Siobhan Vivian

** I loved The List and wanted to read more by the author. This book was good, but not incredible. I related to the main character and was pleased that the writing style and complexity of the narrative voice was also present in this book, but it just didn't compare to black belt status of The List.


Legend by Marie Lu

Another wonderful dystopian-esque read. I loved Divergent and The Hunger Games. This is another good read. As a writer of contemporary YA, I think reading outside my main genre has helped my writing. Legend is told in alternating POV's and this aspect is done very well. The characters' motivations are clear. It's a great Les Mis-esque parallel. On a writing level, I grew frustrated with the eons of passive sentences that could have easily been made active. Why was this not caught in editing? I respect that it could be the author's style, but still, it was distracting. The next book in the series will be released at the end of January 2013. Looking forward to it.

Red Belts (3.5 Stae Rating)

The Dead and Buried by Kim Harrington (Had a lot of potential, but ultimately fell flat. Clean writing. Read like a horror movie, which worked well in some places and hindered it in others. The gemstone knowledge was interesting but also a major gimmick--the MC is named Jade and collects gemstones. Also, the stepmom's character was cliche. Worth finishing and an entertaining read, but not what I thought it was going to be.)

Blue Belts (3 star rating)

Spotting for Nellie by Pamela Lowell (Starts out wonderfully, but drags on and has one, maybe two too many POV characters.)


Up Next:


Ask the Passengers by A.S. King
Balancing Act by April Adams  
Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins






**There are a ton of amazing books being released in 2013. I can't wait. I'll update this list as the winter continues and will do another list in the spring.

-Beth

Revising Tip: Make Use of Your Kindle

While living in Vancouver, I became addicted to my Kindle. It made the 40 minute bus rides to campus much more enjoyable. There was only one problem. Reading in moving vehicles gives me wicked headaches. Luckily, most Kindle books can be read with the text-to speech function. The automated voice sometimes pronounces words phonetically, but it isn't terrible. Yes, audiobooks are better, but they are also more expensive. I've become very well-acquainted with the automated voice, and it gave me an idea for editing: adding my work-in-progress manuscript to my kindle.

I know this is not exactly a new idea. People have been able to add documents to their Kindles for years, and no, you can't edit, at least not on my model. I can't speak to the newer models.

How do you do it?

First you need to know your Kindle email address. If you're thinking what the heck is that or I don't have one, both thoughts occurred to me as well. Hit the menu button. Click settings. Go to page two. You'll find it there. It should be something like JaneDoe89_37@ kindle.com. You can email a file to that address, but it might cost you money. No, I don't know how much, but you can take the same email address and change kindle.com to free.kindle.com and it should still work. I did it. You will then get an email saying you have a file wait to download. I went through a variety of steps including plugging my Kindle into my computer. Somehow it worked. I synced my Kindle and my document came up. It's really not hard. I just made it harder than it needed to be, but really it was pretty easy.

Why do it?

I plugged in my headphones, turned on the text-to-speech and listened. I had already gone through one edit, but I found a few typos that I'd missed. I didn't catch them by sight, but I could hear them, so I had a pen and paper nearby and made a note so that I could fix the mistakes on my laptop. The cool thing was it read like a real book. It was just as good as the published books I'd read this fall. I know I'm biased, but doing this not only helped me to catch typos, it made my WIP seem a little more real. It reaffirmed my confidence in the book.

- Beth

Pros and Cons of NaNoWriMo

It's November which means two things. Guys will be growing out their beards for Movember or No Shave November, depending on what you want to call it. Also, hundreds, maybe even thousands of writers will attempt to write a 50,000 word manuscript in the next 30 days.

I've never attempted NaNo, but I've got some thoughts on it.

The Pros:
* It motivates people to write.
* There is a supportive community for participants.
* It is a "safe" way for aspiring writers to dive in.
* It enforces discipline (maybe too much of it and only for 30 days, but still, NaNo succeeds in getting butts in chairs.)

The Cons:
* On December 1, agents will be flooded with queries of writers wanted representation for their unedited manuscript. These queries will most likely not make it out of the slush pile. TAKE TIME TO EDIT!
* On a related note, NaNo wants quantity versus quality. In order to meet the word count, writers plug away, but don't edit, and at the end, in celebration of their hard work, these exhausted writers are eager to get their work out there, without having giving it the once over or given it to beta readers.
* People lose sleep and sort of don't have a life because they are desperately trying to meet their daily word count.

NaNo isn't all bad. I'm glad it gets people motivated to write and one could certainly argue that self-editing as one goes along can be counterproductive and NaNo doesn't really allow for this because of the need to keep writing to meet one's word count. That being said, the points about editing are also valid. Agents want manuscripts that are very close to being publishable, because publishing houses don't have the resources to spend on substantive editing the way they use to. The market has changed. Agents are now putting on the "editing" hats, so before you approach an agent, make sure your manuscript is as ready as it can be. Something you've written in 30 days, won't be ready on the 31st day.

Also, NaNo doesn't have to end once November is over, nor do you have to participate to learn something. Set reasonable word count goals. How many words do you want to write today? This week? When do you want your first draft finished? I hope to have a first draft of my WIP done by the end of the month. I'm not doing NaNo, but I'm definitely going to be writing away.

Are you doing NaNo?

Writing Quick Tip: Explore the Senses Without Saying Look or Hear

I've been toying with the idea of putting together a series of quick tips to improve one's writing. Here's the first installment. DON'T USE THE WORDS LOOK OR HEAR!

Why? You ask. Aren't writers supposed to use sensory language? The answer is yes...sort of. You want readers to be invested in your main character (MC), and that will not happen if they can't connect with the MC's emotions and perception of the world. However, saying "I looked up and saw him standing there" is a weak and repetitive sentence. If you look, you see. So what's the quick fix? "He was standing there..." Now make it stronger by describing his stance, the expression on his face, or how the sight of him impacts the narrator.

The same applies to "hear," such as "I heard the clanking of keys and the swish of the deadbolt sliding open." Rework the sentence to take out the word hear. Words like clanking and swish indicate sound, so the word hear is unnecessary.

The same rule applies to touch, smell, and taste, but these senses are less used.

On a similar note, another quick fix is to look for phrases like "I reached out and picked up." Just say "I picked up."

These are common problems in writing. Even the most experienced writers use these phrases. Sometimes it is easier, especially if you are in the groove, pounding out a first draft, but if you are in the editing phase and you use Word, do a search (ctrl F, I think. There's also an icon for it on the toolbar.)

Hope that helped! Happy writing!

-Beth