#badbitchesofsupernatural

Firstly, she’s a REAPER!  She's death's right hand woman.  If that isn't bad enough, check this out.

Secondly, let’s take back the word Bitch.   Let’s negate the negative right here, right now, and reclaim the word bitch.  Let’s celebrate our strengths.  I’m sassy, independent, I care a hella lot about others, and I don’t take any shit from anyone.  I can walk the walk, talk the talk, and I can do it all with a smile on my face and bite to my tongue.  Just like Tessa.    

According to urban dictionary, yes, that one, but I digress a Bad Bitch is a:

1.  Female who knows what she wants and knows exactly how to get it

2.  Female who is always ready for anything physically, emotionally, and also intellectually(one being book smart as well as street smart).

3.  One who is classy and all about business

4.  Last but certainly not least one who knows how to take care of her man at home and in the streets and remains loyal to him(her man), herself, and the game at which she plays.

Now, if you can’t tell me right here, right now, that Tessa, doesn’t fit those criteria, you’re blind.  Did you know, in essence, Tessa was the first angel to appear in the series?  I don’t know about you, but angels aren’t sweet.  They are bad ass, stubborn, all about business, and lastly, a bunch of dicks and bitches.  It’s a shame that Tessa’s life came to end at the pointy end of the First Blade but it was her choice. She made her own decisions.  She stuck to them.  One way or another, Tessa in her own right, was one bad, ass, bitch. She never sugar coated anything, she was spunky, and my personal favorite, was always putting Dean in his place.  

Stay bad, bitches.

‘Til we meet again,

Brief disclaimer: I’m by no means a professional writer and I don't claim to be an expert. My creative work has never been officially published, aside from the fics on my SPN blog and a few random pieces on my blogspot.  However, I have been writing for fun for almost 15 years and I've learned a few things along the way that I think might be helpful for some of you.

Anyway, my point is, take everything I’m about to say with a shotgun shell of salt.

Without further ado, here are just a couple things I do to improve my writing skills.

Write, write, write. I know this seems like common sense, but it honestly works. The more you write, the better you'll write. Just as any athlete or musician practices for hours every day in order to improve, so also a writer must put in the time and effort it takes to get better. Now, I realize that it may not be possible for you to spend hours writing daily (it certainly isn't for me!), but try to carve out a little time each day to write something, even if it's only a few sentences. My practice is keeping a journal and jotting down a few notes about my day every night before I go to bed. My goal is to set aside a few minutes for more creative writing every day, like working on my novel or fics, but it just hasn't worked out yet.

Read, read, read. This is where it started for me. Reading is something I've enjoyed for as long as I can remember. It's an escape, an adventure, and an useful resource of information. Through reading you can experience different voices, different styles, and different themes, all of which can help hone your specific style and voice for your writing. It's a way to see what inspires you and hooks you as a reader so you can implement those things into your writing. Read authors you adore and respect and your writing will begin to imitate theirs. In a good way, not the plagiarism way. There's also TONS of books about writing with tips and advice. My favorite is Stephen King’s On Writing, which is where most of these tips come from. 

Write what you know. JK Rowling’s novels are usually set in England, where she was born. Stephen King’s stories often occur in Maine, where he lives. Kate Morton sticks with thrilling historical tragedies which she studied when earning her master's degree. My point is to draw on any and every experience you have. Your experiences are unique and special--no one else has had those same exact ones. Incorporating them into your writing is sometimes easier and makes your stories more believable. However, I'm not saying you can't set your work in the future, or space, or the 1800s. I doubt Rowling dueled a dark evil villain with sticks that could shoot magic from the tips or that King was a prison guard on a 1930s death row block. The trick is infusing these stories with details that you know well to complement the narrative and emotion you are trying to accomplish.

Seek out advice. This is important for really anything you do. The idea of learning from your mistakes is good, but you can also learn from others’ mistakes before you make them yourself. Ask someone you respect and admire to mentor you and learn from them. Take advantage of the time they give you and grow as much as you can from their wisdom. Ask them to look at what you write and give you specific honest feedback. I cannot tell you how much having a mentor has helped me grow, even just as a person. As luck would have it, all of us Bad Bitches are willing to do this for you--mentor, beta, or whatever else you need! 

Know your characters. This is huge for me personally. I have pages and pages of notes about my characters. I find my work turns out better if I know the characters well, drop them into a situation, and just watch what they do. Often I have an idea or outline of a plot that is nowhere near the final product, because the characters react in ways I don't expect. Not to mention, it's so much fun to discover characters this way and to see the story unfold in front of you. For fic writers working with already established characters, getting to know your characters can consist of watching shows or movies they appear in or reading works which feature them. For your own original characters, there's a lot more freedom to build them, though sometimes they'll surprise you by taking up a life of their own.

Well, good luck friends! Enjoy exercising your creative muscles!

Chao!

I love pens and pencils! Though I hate it when pencil smudges. I like pens because I can color code my writing; I used to keep a single notebook for all of my current stories and I color coded the pens so that I could stop and start working on different stories with a simple bullet point. Plus, I think most of us would agree that there’s something so satisfying about finding a pen that writes so smoothly over the paper and makes your handwriting look perfect. There’s something nostalgic about writing on paper but sometimes my mind can get ahead of my pen so I prefer the computer and even still sometimes I can’t type fast enough. 

You probably want to think about what works best for your and your lifestyle. Are you always on the computer at work? Do you always have your phone with you? Do you use the memo pad on your phone? Or do you like to carry a notebook in your purse? Even if you prefer to computer to paper, I would suggest incorporating working on paper sometimes. Writing on paper is an excellent way to slow yourself down to think about the story. Perhaps make a to-list or maybe write out your outline on paper. 

That brings me to my next answer. I like to use outlines! Those books I was talking about...they can give you worksheets to plan out your story and characters. But you don’t always need that. Even just a simple bullet point list of ideas and storylines can be useful! For us fanfiction writers or anyone who ever deals with writer’s block, outlines can be particularly helpful in keeping the story going. For the people writing a fanfic series, outlines can help you plan out each part so that you know where to break and then you can even tell your readers, “Hey this series is a 10-parter!” However, remember! Even if you have an outline, that doesn’t mean you can’t let the story take you in a different direction and develop different parts of the story. You would just get to say, “Hey now this series has 15 chapters!” Your readers would definitely be happy to know if their favorite story got an extension. I don’t know about you guys but plain and simple, I like having a plan. It’s less stressful, which is important when you’re writing fan fiction. Bottom line, you are writing for yourself but yes, you have readers too and you can ease the pressure if you have a plan.

Choosing what point of view you want to write in can depend on your characters and subject matter. One of the popular categories in fanfic writing are reader inserts. This is one of the few places where a writer can get away with writing in the second person, using the word “you” rather than “I” (<<first person) or “he/she” (<<third person). There are pros and cons to all POVS but I’ll save the point of view discussion for another Badass Bitch at a later date. ;) I’ll just say that aside from my reader insert fanfics, I prefer third person omniscient. Past and present tense is all up to the writer’s choice too. However, most books you read these days are in past tense and that’s the preference for most readers and publishers. Simply put, past and present tense is either “says” or “said.” I’ve read before that present tense it limiting because it doesn’t give the characters any hindsight. It puts everything in the moment. It’s action oriented and similar to screenwriting.

I think those last two questions are very important! 

Keep it to yourself or share it?? Most writers are plagued with low self esteem for their writing. In a world saturated with stories, it’s hard to be original. And also some writers--maybe even the same ones--are perfectionists. They don’t want to share their work until it’s perfect. But that’s nearly impossible isn’t it? A writer is their own worst critic. I personally believe in sharing your work. Share it with a beta, a friend or a fellow writer, and you’re opening yourself up to improvement. How can you improve your craft if you won’t let someone else read it? Besides you might be surprised! They may enjoy it and a reader patiently waiting for your next story becomes your motivation to keep going.

Speaking of craft and motivation...let’s think about my namesake, Rowena. Writing is a craft just like witchcraft. Rowena has spent centuries honing her craft and while we obviously don’t have centuries to learn, we need to understand that writing takes time. And it takes practice! While we all have our muses and source material, we can’t always wait around for that. If you want to be a better writer...if you want to improve...you have to want it. You have to be willing to practice just like you’d practice any other skill. If you want to write, you shouldn’t let anything stand in your way. Hell, you should schedule your writing time if you can. It can take a couple of weeks to form a writing habit but once you do, you’ll feel the urge to stick to it--enough so that if you skip it, you’ll be sad or feel guilty. Having a routine or writing habit also eliminates the need for a muse all the time, though it may eventually show up. Not only will a writing routine leave you satisfied and provide an emotional outlet for you but your readers will thank you too. Practice also definitely pays off too when you have someone to keep you in check, to support you, bounce ideas off of, and share their own wisdom. That’s what betas or writing friends are for! Rowena knows that a coven benefits her and makes each witch stronger and the same goes for a writing group! 

Every writer has a different process, different experiences, and different backgrounds to pull from and having a writing support group can only benefit you and make you a better writer! Being a writer is not a lonely task if you don’t want it to be. Making friends on Tumblr is relatively easy and since fanfiction is so common, it’s definitely possible to find or create this invaluable support group.