Blog - Alyssa Hollingsworth

2014 in Review

If 2014 had a word, it would probably be: Belonging. In 2014, I… (more…)

By Alyssa December 30, 2014 Life

I primarily enjoy writing (and reading) fantasy. It’s wonderful when your head is full of another world, with all the culture and worldbuilding attached. But getting necessary information about this crazy awesome world across to your reader can be hard. Really, really hard. The best worldbuilding is done in a steady trickle, so soft the reader doesn’t really know how they know the information. I’m not there yet. Instead of a gently flowing, melodious stream, I often find myself taking a hammer to my readers’ brains and being like, “NOTICE THIS, IT’S IMPORTANT.” This, my friends, is an infodump. An...

By Alyssa December 8, 2014 Fiction & I, Writing Tips

When Everything You Write Sucks

There comes a point in every writer’s journey where every idea, every sentence, every word seems to suck. When writing is no longer sunny meadow frolicking, but the Cliffs of Insanity. The first thing to do is remind yourself: Every writer ever in the history of the world has been where you are. Everyone has hated their writing at some point. Or multiple points. Or pretty much all the points. So. Keep that in mind. Give yourself permission to suck. That’s what it’s all about. But if you are desperate for new ways to move forward, there are some methods...

By Alyssa December 2, 2014 Fiction & I, Writing Tips

First Book Launch + Returning to the States

So one or two things have happened in the last few weeks. And by one or few things, I mean a whole ton of stuff. At the beginning of October, my parents came to England for a series of fun adventures. We drove around because my dad considers it a personal challenge to take on as many foreign roads as possible. Bookstores were visited and historic sites toured. Our trip included high tea with my dad, which was something a little like trying to have high tea with Ron Swanson. At the end of October, my parents helped me pack up...

By Alyssa November 29, 2014 Fiction & I, Life

Type 1 Diabetes: A Guide from Little Sister

It’s National Diabetes Awareness Day! I cracked my knuckles, pulled out my stalker credentials and hunted up my little sister’s super secret old blog (which I will not link to, because she has access to younger!me blogs that I’d rather leave dead I respect her) for a guide to Type 1 Diabetes she wrote when she was 16. My sister was a weird 16 year old. I’ll let younger!her tell you the tale, originally written for our cousin, Brooke, and later shared with the wide world through LiveJournal. I’ve touched it up a little. There is a strange organizational flow...

By Alyssa November 14, 2014 Life

Creative Writing: Influence Maps

I’ve just published a post over on The Great Novelling Adventure about creating influence maps for your creative writing. I thought I’d take the maps I made for myself and expound on them here, in case anyone is curious. No story (or writer) is created in a vacuum. Everyone has threads connecting their creation to the wider world. Having other forces influence you doesn’t make you unoriginal–in fact, I think the way we interpret the things that influence us is what makes us unique. (more…)

By Alyssa November 10, 2014 Fiction & I

10 Questions to Ask When You Create a Fictional Culture

The way I build worlds is by collecting cool stuff from the history, myth and people around me. I blend these details with my own imagination, and create my own cultures. Culture is a vital part to realistic worldbuilding. Normally there are a few particular cultures that interest me at a given time. I read whatever I can find about them, their environment, their traditions and their myths. The interesting details filter into the new world I’m creating (example: at one time, Venetian widows could only remarry on the stroke of midnight). In the long term, there is nothing more inspiring and challenging than visiting...

By Alyssa November 2, 2014 Featured, Fiction & I, Travel, Writing Tips

10 Writing Resources: Characters

From the basics to the very in-depth, these are some of the resources I go to when I’m developing new characters. Have a look at my favorites, and add your own in the comments! 1. 25 Things About Creating Characters As a writer, creating characters is probably the most important thing you do. Get it wrong, and the story will be wrong no matter how well plotted. 2. Lessons From James Scott Bell: Characters That Jump Off The Page Readers are engaged by characters who do not always act in a predictable way. Think of how to have your character...

By Alyssa October 13, 2014 Writing Tips

Top 10 Most Inspirational Places: Mont St Michel

My Top 10 Most Inspirational Places in the World

10. Mont St Michel, France Before dawn, when the tourist buses haven’t arrived and cats rove the alleys with bleary-eyed delivery men—that is when Mont St Michel is alive. You stumble half-asleep through its medieval streets, and in the cold and the dark it’s not a tourist trap, it’s timetravel. You stand on the old walls, look out at the treacherous marshes and watch the tide come in. At first the water hardly seems to stir, but then you look away, look back, and the ground’s vanished. When the monastery opens, and you elbow past the late-comers to an empty nave, echoing...

By Alyssa October 10, 2014 Life, Travel

5 Questions to Ask before You Get Your Master's

5 Questions to Ask Before You Get a Master’s in Creative Writing

I’ve just completed my master’s degree in Writing for Young People at Bath Spa University, and MAWYP has also just celebrated its 10th birthday. Yay! Below are some of the questions I asked myself when I first started thinking about getting my master’s, and some of the questions (now that I’m at the end) I wish I would’ve asked. I hope this post isn’t a running advertisement for BSU, but I am biased. Master’s programs are very different depending on where you go and who you’re with and what you want, so I only have my own (and my classmates’) experience to...