I Now Have a Button! Yay!

Hello everyone!

This is a quick post telling you all that I have a blog button now for DTW!:D

I used PicMonkey to create it, and, although it's not the most amazing button, I really like it!:)

I would greatly appreciate it if you would put it on your blog! I guess I am eligible for button swaps now...Yay!;D

 

I am sorry I haven't posted much recently, I think I have been busy and have been doing other things, but I did manage to figure out what drawing I will need to make for Glazed and started it.:)

I think I will probably post the Rey tutorial within the next few days, while I finish the Glazed drawing.:)

 

Well, I think that's all.;)

Bye!

-Emma-



Glazed Part Seventeen

Hi everyone!:D

I have the next part of Glazed here for you!:) I hope you enjoy it!

 

Music blared from a lively orchestra at the edge of the room and dancing couples swung and skipped to it. Everyone laughed and smiled at the joyous occasion. The dance finished and one of the servants announced the two princesses together. Emma was to stay with Jaclynn for the night, to show the alliances between the two kingdoms.

“Queen Jaclynn of Diddle Pop Land. Princess Emma of Cookie Doodle Land.”

The crowd bowed to the two royals and Emma positioned herself next to Jaclynn.

Emma looked at her 'Dee' and opened her mouth to say something. She wanted to talk to her, ask her her questions, tell her how she felt, after all, this was what she had been waiting for, yet every word escaped her.

 

 

She shut her mouth and looked out to the ball room, feeling defeated.

“Hi.”

Emma's head snapped to Jaclynn.

“Hi?” She questioned. She hadn't spoken to Jaclynn in at least two years, and now she was saying hi? How do you respond to that?

“Um, hi...” Emma whispered, stunned.

“You look very nice,” She continued. Emma smiled and she felt like a sudden weight was inching its way off her shoulders.

“Thank you! You look so pretty! I like your hairstyle, Dee,” Emma replied.

“Thanks, Cookie,” Jaclynn grinned. Emma felt ecstatic and her smile made her cheeks ache, they were still calling each other by their nicknames! They looked out at the boisterous people and Jaclynn took a breath, “So this is what a party is like?”

Emma nodded her head, “Yes! It's so fun seeing the different dessert people-”

Emma noticed Jaclynn's nose taking deep, long breathes.

“- and smelling them too!” Emma and Jaclynn giggled at the joke. Jaclynn opened her mouth to say something else when a short older man swaggered to the girls. He bowed to them and smiled cockily.

“Greetings, Your Highnesses, I am the Duke of Ice Creamtown, as your second closest partner in trade, it seems only fitting that I offer you your first dance as Queen, Your Majesty!” Emma glanced at Jaclynn's face and noticed her face turn a shade paler.

“I-I don't dance,” She muttered and flicked her gaze to Emma, “-but Princess Emma does!”

“Oh!” Emma cried out in surprise. “No, really, I don't think-”

“Lucky yooou!” The Duke hooked his arm around hers and pulled her through the crowd of people, not listening to her attempts to tell him no. They began to dance and Emma tried not to look at him too closely. He had snow white hair with yellow highlights and wore a white suit with golden accents. From his appearance, it wasn't hard to guess that he was Vanilla Ice Cream. The Duke hopped up and down next to Emma and one of his cream colored boots slammed onto her toe.

“Ow!” Emma clenched her teeth. Good thing he was so small and didn't weigh much.

“Speaking of, so nice to have the gates open! Do you know why they were shut in the first place?” The Duke drew nearer on tiptoes, “Hmmmmmmm?”

Emma leaned away from him, “Um. No.”

The Duke seemed disappointed momentarily and then smiled again.

“Oh, well,” he said abruptly and looked at the ballroom with a scrutinizing glare, as if he could learn the answer if he focused enough. The dance ended a few minutes later and Emma staggered back to her friend, her toes throbbing from the duke's constant stomping.

“Well! He was...” Jaclynn trailed off, thinking, “enthusiastic.”

Emma and Jaclynn laughed until Jaclynn said, “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I'm fine! I'm better than fine really. This is so nice. I'm talking to you...” Emma smiled hopefully, “I want it to be like this all of the time.”

Jaclynn nodded her head and smiled back, “Me too,” Jaclynn's smile slowly vanished and she looked away, “But it can't.”

“Why not? This-”

“It just can't!” Jaclynn snapped. Emma's eyes widened and she took a breath.

“Excuse me,” Emma whispered and she stepped away, leaving Jaclynn looking sadly at her.

***

OOOoooOOhhhhhHHHHhhh....XD LOL!

The next part will probably be up soon, I might have to draw a picture, or I might have one in a previous sketchbook.;)

-Emma-



How to Make Your Story More Interesting.:)

Hi everyone!

Lately, I have been feeling more writer-y, then artist-y (although I have been drawing still, but for stories....Glazed not included...;P) so I have another writing post for you!:) It's about how to make your story, or book, more interesting.

These are just some ideas I have, and I am just throwing them out there for others to think about.:)

 

 

 

I think that this one is a very good way to make your story more interesting. Let's say your character is battling a dragon. That is very interesting in itself, but if you also add the fact that if they don't defeat the dragon, then their parents will die (because the dragon is keeping them hostage.;)). Automatically, the stakes are higher and another problem arises. Let me give you another example for general plot conflict.

You have your despicable villain trying to ruin the world, but if you add onto that that your main character has to deal with his/her best friend who has recently dumped him/her and they have to go on their quest with them, then that makes another immediate conflict.

I just think that this is a very good way to add interest into your story.:)

 

 

This one is kind of harder to do. Something I don't think I have mastered yet, but am trying to.;) Making your characters three-dimensional. Making them pop from the pages, or from the screen. When you do that, your story becomes more interesting and real, but it is a really hard thing to do. I think that when you add a past to your character and truly know them, the way they talk and walk, what annoys them, what they do to show their anger, their quirks, flaws, and all of those things, you start to understand them and make them come alive though. It's hard, and I know this probably didn't help much, but I knew it had to be added to the list, because it is very important in making your story interesting.:)

 

Hehe! Add a plot twist! I think everyone loves a good plot twist. Where something was expected to be one way, when it turns out to be completely the other way.:) By adding a plot twist, even if you already knew what it was from the moment you started typing your story, your readers go all like- WHAT??? It kind of wakes them up.;)

 

Let your characters fail, or do something wrong. When your characters do something wrong, the consequences all differ, to the whole plan failing or just to someone being disappointed or upset. When your characters fail, the story becomes more realistic and more interesting, especially if the stakes are high.:)

 

Give your characters secrets. I know I have a hard time coming up with secrets to give my characters, but when you make up secrets, your story becomes more interesting and the readers are drawn into the story, waiting for the big reveal.:) Something that goes hand-in-hand with this is also making your characters lie. In one of the stories I am working on right now, my character lies about something extremely important for the advantage of a whole race of people. But the lie is hugely important to whom she lied to, so I can't wait to write the moment when everything explodes. Especially once my character grows to completely trust the character who lied to her...

*delighted evil face*

Anyway!

I hope these tips helped you, and if you have any tips of your own that you think make a story more interesting, then I'd love it if you would share them on your blog (if you do, share the link, please!:D), or in the comments below!:)

 

Now, to get to writing (since this whole post was created in the time I was telling myself to write with...O.O)!

-Emma-

PS- I bet all of you think I never write, since I always say how bad I am with my procrastinating.XD



The Writing Journal, and Why You Should Have One!:D

Hi everyone!

I am here to talk to you about something that I think every writer should have...the writing journal! I know that I have seen some other bloggers talk about this once in a while, but I thought I would share with you the perks of having a writing journal, and also what you can put into it.:D

This is my writing journal! You might want to go out to a store and buy a special notebook especially for this specific subject, and maybe get some nice pens and colored markers while you are out, too, just for that extra something.:D 

The writing journal is amazing for so many reasons, but I just love having a private book for your writerly needs, where you can put everything in and not feel weird. It's your writing place that only you get to read.:)

Okay, onto what you can use your journal for-

You can use it for cataloging all of the names you like, so you will never run out of names for your characters!:) 

Boys, too!;) 

I also have a list of substitute words for the word "said" in mine, because I know I can be sitting at the computer trying to think of a good word for how someone said something for forever.;) 

You can write down all of your story ideas and current works in progresses. I like to put down on paper all of my ideas so that when I am lacking inspiration or direction with my story, I can come back to it and figure out what should happen next.:)

It also really helps when you are first getting a story idea and you can write everything that is popping up in your head as quickly as it's coming to you.:)

That is also why I want to say this to the people that are thinking, well I just use the Notes app on my phone-

Phones are not as good as a journal!

Here's why:

Phones can't keep up with all of your onslaughts of creative ideas that you get for a story. With all of the typing errors, auto-correct completely changing the words you write, and etc., it's just not as good as when you are actually writing it yourself.

Phones don't give you the same creative feeling you get when you have a journal solely for keeping your ideas.

Books are just better for brainstorming, in my opnion.;D 

This is sort of apart of the story ideas topic, but more for your characters.;)

You can write down all of your character's personality, character flaws, looks, body language, secrets, fears, anything and everything you need to know about your character.:) And not only for actual characters you are now writing, but you can put in ideas for future characters. Like if you see a person at the mall and you really like their coloring, or nose, or hair texture and want that for a character, you can write it down so you can remember!:) 

And my last idea, writing down writing prompts that you come up with! Like this one I thought of when it happened to me! I was reading a library book when a piece of paper came out and I grabbed it and read it, I mean, how could you not? LOL! It was a printed out email from some person asking about this special summer class.;) Although what the paper said wasn't exactly inspiring, it was really interesting and I immediately got the idea of what else the paper could have said.:) So I wrote this down for a future short story, story, or book.:D

***

I hope you liked this post and if you make a writing journal, I would love to see how you like it.:)

 

 I made a Star Wars tutorial a little bit ago, but I am not sure how good it is. I haven't ever been the best at teaching or instructing people to draw because I am kind of all over the place and not at all orderly, but, that being said, I feel better knowing everyone knows that now.;) I am sure that I will get better the more I do tutorials and figure out how to make it easier for others.:D

-Emma-

 



Glazed Part Sixteen

Hi everyon!

I have the next part of Glazed up, sorry it's not longer, but I think the next one is really long. Hopefully, they will balance each other out.:)

 

The room was filled with silent people and the priest and soon-to-be queen stood at the end of it. Jaclynn faced the priest, her heart hammering inside her chest. The priest held the crown in his hands and Jaclynn bent from her waist down for him to place it on her head. Little donuts dangled from the twists and spires of the tiara. Next, the priest offered her the donut and the scepter and Jaclynn's face turned pale. She reached out for the objects when the priest cleared his throat.

“Your Donutness, the gloves.”

Jaclynn glanced at the gloves and she clenched her teeth.

Of course! She slipped them off and shakily took the donut and scepter.

 

The priest began a chant in the native Donut language and Jaclynn faced the benches of people, including Emma. Jaclynn's eyes darted to the donut and scepter and a creeping glaze inched around the items slowly. Jaclynn set her eyes to the back of the room and prayed that the chant would be over soon. And for what felt like years, but was only a few seconds, the chant ended and the priest finished.

“Queen Jaclynn of Diddle Pop Land.”

Jaclynn twisted back to the priest and tossed the semi-glazed items onto the cushion and shoved her gloves back onto her hands.

“Queen Jaclynn of Diddle Pop Land,” the room chorused and they filtered out to the ball room.

***

I hope you liked this part.:)

-Emma-



Glazed Part Fifteen

Hi everyone!:)

Thank you everyone who commented on my What Would YOU Like To See? post, all of your opinions and suggestions were awesome and I am figuring out ideas for what to do drawing tutorials on.:D Would anyone like a How to Draw Star Wars Characters series? And if so, would you want it to be cartoonized (like how I draw most all of my normal drawings) or realistic?:)

 

Anyway, I have the next part of Glazed up!:D This is where you get to meet Prince Cedric/Prince Hans...;)

 

The gates were opened and people began to walk inside the courtyard and mill about. Emma's heart filled with joy at the sight of all of the people. It was about time that the gates were opened, and she noticed the sparkling hinges with a happy laugh. Emma pushed against the flow of the crowd and flung herself onto a little wall to see the stream of people coming in. She continued skipping through the road and down a flight of stairs. Seeing all of these people was making Emma energized. She raced down a set of stairs and twirled at the edge of the dock. She bounced farther down the road and twirled again with her eyes shut, feeling a giddy laugh bubble up inside of her, when something slammed into her side, sending her tumbling into a docked boat.

“HEY! Watch where you're going!” Emma shouted. A huge horse face moved closer to her and she batted her arms in annoyance.

“I'm so sorry, are you hurt?” A handsome man with red hair jumped off of the horse and stepped carefully into the boat. He reached out a hand and Emma looked up at him in shock.

Who is he? Emma thought, her mind spinning.

“Uh, no, I'm okay... thanks,” Emma smiled at him and took his hand, wondering why she had said thanks to someone who had thrown her into a boat.

 

“Oh, thank goodness... I am Prince Cedric of the Pastry Isles,” he introduced himself with a little bow.

“Princess Emma, of Cookie Doodle Land,” Emma greeted.

“Princess?” The prince's face turned to confusion, then shock as he bent to the floor of the boat in a dramatic bow, “Your Highness!”

Emma's face turned pink as even the horse bowed. Emma drew a quick breath as she realized that the horse was the one keeping the boat from toppling out to the fjord. The horse lifted its foot as he bowed his head, and the boat tipped to the water and Emma flailed her arms as she lost her balance. Cedric toppled too and landed on top of her. The horse stomped its foot on the boat and it lurched, sending the duo sprawling to the other end of the boat.

“Oh, um, sorry,” Emma murmured and they got up.

“I'd like to formally apologize for hitting a princess with my horse, it was an honest mistake.” Emma scooted to the dock ground.

“I'm fine, really, I'm not anyone special or anything, no one will send guards to arrest you!” Emma chuckled at the thought, “It was only an accident!” Emma stepped out of the boat. “So, lucky you, it's just me!”

“Just you?” He questioned.

The two stood staring at each other with smiles on their faces. Faint bells dinged in the castle and Emma snapped out of her trance.

“Bells. The coronation! Oh, no, I have to leave!” Emma looked back to the castle earnestly, “I need to get there! Bye!” Emma sprinted to the castle and ran towards the coronation.

***

I hope you liked it!:D

And continuing with the whole tutorial thing, if you don't want a Star Wars character series, then is there anything else that you are having a hard time with that maybe you would like me to make a post about on how I do it?:)

-Emma-



What Would YOU Like To See?:)

Hey everyone!

I've noticed that I have lost three followers over the past month (which I am not complaining about, anyone can unfollow me if they don't like what I am doing and I am fine with that!) and that has got me to wondering...what is it that people aren't liking?

I want to make my blog a super fun and enjoyable place for book lovers, writers, and artists to enjoy. So I am asking you, what would you like to see more of on here?

More stories? Writing help? More drawings? Book reviews? Drawing tutorials?

Please comment below what you would like to see, or see more of (or even see less of!).:D I am open to new ideas that y'all might have!:) Don't feel scared to tell me how you feel!:)

Thanks!

-Emma-