How Writing Novels Helps You Pass Your AP English Test

So today I took the dreaded AP English language and Composition test. I'm technically not allowed to talk about anything on the test because I signed the little "I will not talk about any of the stuff on this test until it's released" section on the booklet that you had to sign to take the test, so I will not do that, but I will tell you that the multiple choice was harder than I thought it would be, but the essays weren't that bad.

Probably because going into the test I was not worried about the essays much at all. Not only were the essays just about the only think we worked on all year in my class, but even before the class my essays were already pretty good.

Guess why?

As this is a writing blog, I think you can all manage to guess the answer to that.

Even though essays and novel are rather different writing forms, you'll either be surprised or already know how much extensive narrative writing skills can help you write good essays. 

At the bare minimum, you've got the writing mechanics down. You know how to form a sentence and that sentences form a paragraph. Even with spell check, you should have a good enough grasp on spelling an punctuation that the grader won't cringe.

If you're really dedicated to/good at writing, you also probably know how to develop an idea. Good essays aren't just thesis, evidence, idea, conclusion. (Unless you're in my 7th grade English teacher's class. In that woman's class you conformed to the strict format or she would fail you on the spot. So if you are in the younger grades (7/8) stick to the format and have hope for a future in which you can break free from suck limited writing. There is hope, I promise.) 

They have flow. The idea is developed and supported and expanded, just like a plot or a character. A Character is typically introduced and developed in the readers mind, then some of their background is explained so that we can understand them, then the character ( if dynamic) grows as a person/character.

Usually when writing a novel, you start to use a lot of different methods and structures and sentence lengths ect. It would be really boring to read a book with the same sized sentences and the same sized paragraphs and the same words. Unless it's a purposeful styles, "he said","she said" books are boring.

In short, you develop a certain repertoire of skills that don't just apply to narratives. They work and even should be used in essays. it makes them much better.

And of course, writers are more familiar with taking constructive criticism. Or at least you should be. So we're a lot better at taking a grade lower than we wanted because we can take that to improve our writing better than most kids who are used to getting As on everything.

We also tend to be a lot better at sitting in one place for 2+ hours, doing nothing but writing.

That helps a lot.

I Found a Title!

Good news I'm sharing with you because I know you all care!

I found a title for my book!

Yes, the novel that I completed a year and a half ago finally has a name.

I would love to show you guys the process of how I came to the title and all the different ones that I tired out and dismissing and edited and tweaked... but I can't because it just kinda came to me when I have half awake this morning.

I go to a class early in the morning that starts at 6:00. There's time to go home afterwards before school, so usually I just wake up, roll out of bed, pull on a jacket and a pair of shoes, wrap myself up in a blanket and get in the car and sleep on the way there. Sometimes I'm half awake though and my brain goes into this odd half awake half asleep aether state. I'm awake enough that I'm controlling my thoughts but asleep enough that I'm not... it's really hard to explain.

Some of my best ideas have come from that state.

It's really weird, but awesome.

This morning I was in this aether mind place, and I was thinking about getting published and how excited I'd be telling my friends and family and you guys... and as I was, I imagined telling people "I found an agent who's going to represent Beguiled!" 

It literally just came to me.

Like I said, weird but really super awesome.

Has anything like that ever happened to you?

So You Have An Idea...

"I tend to daydream quite often, and those tend to be a combination of the more recent shows or concepts that have got stuck in my head. I've tried to write them down a couple times before, but I only manage to finish a couple of paragraphs or pages before I become restless and do something else. Do you have any advice for getting it down? Do I just need to stick through it?

Also, I don't how some people can write/keep a concept on one subject for so long. I frequently want to through more characters or ideas into my head when I do get an idea or plot. I don't know how authors just stick with certain stuff for a while."

This, ladies and gentlemen, is our first comment! So, we decided that these questions (okay so the second one wasn’t exactly a QUESTION, but it was still a subject to address) were important enough questions to actually address in a post.

Part of this is sort of going to be follow up to the last post because this was a comment on that post. I am writing this post a) because it was a comment on a post I made and b) because Margaret would be completely unhelpful in this situation. She had troubles getting her characters OUT of her head. They’re honest to goodness like a jealous girlfriend that won’t even let her look at other characters. Now, getting her to focus on writing the book itself about them is another story but… okay, so maybe she could write something about sticking through things past a few paragraphs/pages XD

My first word of advice in response to your first question is to really think through what your idea is and make sure that it actually IS something you would want to dedicate possible years of your life to. Some ideas are like people in that regard. You may love them and love hanging out with them, but if you had to be their roommate you would want to smother them with a pillow in the night. I can think of at least ten people off the top of my head that that would end up happening to me with. Before you try to dedicate any serious time to it, make sure that you would be able to stand having this idea and set of characters as a roommates in your head.

The second thing to do would be to think through the whole idea and come down with an actual plot you can work with. That’s the reason my brother’s never written a novel. He has a *brilliant* concept and main character, but he had no idea what to do with him (he has specifically requested that I not explain this character or concept). He’s started to try to write about him at least three times to my knowledge but he’s never gotten past a first chapter. Before you sit down and try to hammer out the first 1000 words that come to you, figure out exactly where you’re going with it. My suggestion would be to go full blown chapter outline if you’re really serious. If you’re protesting that you don’t need to write a chapter outline visit this post here: How To Lasso Your Story and Avoid The Brick Wall From Hell

From that point on, I’m sorry, but to my knowledge at least, all there is to it is to just stick through it like you said. If it really is a keeper idea and you’re sure this one’s for reals, you should have the passion *winkwinkhinthintnudgenudge* to continue with it, even when you want to throw your computer against the wall in frustration. Something that I try to do that sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t, is to try to set a schedule for yourself. For example, writing a chapter every week or every day if you’re more ambitious. Try to give it some teeth though. Tell someone that that’s your goal so that they can keep you honest. When you only make goals with yourself unless you have great self-discipline, they usually fall through.

As for your second problem… that’s something that varies person to person. Some people like Margaret, who get so attached to their character’s it’s like they themselves are standing over her mind glaring down any other characters who try to attach themselves to her brain. She doesn’t have much problem coming back to the same characters.

In my own experiences, I find that it really does help to take small breaks sometimes. When I’m really frustrated or bored I find that it does help to take a short break and play around with another set of characters or plot. That’s one of the reasons a lot of authors suggest having more than one project going at a time. When you’re going to rip your hair out over one of them, you can go to the others. That being said, you have to be very careful not to take ‘break’ into ‘abandonment’. That can easily happen. Once again, it kind of comes down to just pulling through.

I hope this was helpful!