ANDREW J. WRITES
Let’s Get Write On In
What Do I Write About?
What don’t I write about is an easier question to answer.
I always say I came out of the womb with a pen in one hand and a notebook in the other, and that’s the truth. The origin of my writing started with stories and the expansion of my imagination.
This led me to producing my first book, Immortality Awaits, which I started writing at 18, prematurely self-published at 24, and subsequently removed from the shelves (although it’s still out there, if you want it.)
From there, I continued to tinker away at different stories, eventually leading to a few manuscripts that I’m still in the editing stages working with.
Outside of that, my time working as a freelancer has allowed me to focus on blog posts, articles, celebrity interviews, and a whole different life than I had ever imagined.
Feel free to poke around below to learn more about my books, my blogs and videos from my YouTube channel Get Write On In, and other various tips and tricks from my life as an author and freelance writer.
If you’re looking to hire me, please visit the Services page.
Writing Tips
We all like to laugh, and humor can be a powerful tool in even the most serious stories. It lightens the mood, deepens character relationships, and offers readers a moment of relief before diving back into the intensity of the main plot.
However, it can be tricky to find the balance. Too much, and it can feel out of place or break the emotional tension; too little, and the story may become overly heavy. The key is learning how to weave humor into your story naturally without disrupting the tone. Let’s get write on in to some techniques
It’s not uncommon for the terms “villain” and “antagonist” to get thrown around interchangeably, but they’re not actually the same thing.
Yes, all villains are antagonists, but on the flip side, not all antagonists are actually villains. Believe it or not, the distinction is important, as it can significantly impact the dynamics of your story, particularly how conflict and opposition are framed.
Even though they’re usually set up to be the bad guy, a great villain can be just as important—if not more so—than the hero who leads the story.
Yes, heroes inspire and guide us, and the purpose of the villains are usually to challenge the hero’s journey, create conflict, and force the protagonist to rise to new levels of greatness. Without them, stories would be bland and boring, and a well-crafted villain is the cornerstone of a compelling narrative, raising the stakes, driving the plot, and elevating the entire story.
Whether you ever have or ever intend to participate in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo or NaNo) in November, you shouldn’t hold yourself to only writing a book within those 30 days. If you’re like me, you might find out about NaNo right before it starts and have no idea what to do.
Never fear, even if it feels like you totally should.
Whether you’re a newer writer or a seasoned pro, you’re bound to have to interview someone at some point of your career.
Regardless of your skill level, the status of your interviewee, or where the interview is going, let’s get write on in to some tips to help you crush your next interview.
As both reader or writer, you’ve probably heard of authorial voice.
If you’re a reader, you already know how you attach to different writers for different purposes. You know about the tropes you like. Whether you’re more character or plot-driven. What you’d like to see more and less of.
As a writer, you’re still familiar with all of these things.
Since everybody knows what sensory details are, I find that they're oftentimes overlooked. People tend to have this, "Oh, I already know what it is," idea, and they don't actually practice staying connected with their senses. Let's change that.
Dialogue is about so much more than simply the words that occupy the space between the quotation marks.
No one is safe from imposter syndrome, but if you're a writer stuck in this web, let's get write on in to some tips on how to overcome that.
Treat every month like National Novel Writing Month with these 7 tips on connecting with your inner voice.
You looking to thicken your plot out there? Well, you've come to the "write" place, so let's #GetWriteOnIn to continuing through #Preptober for #NationalNovelWritingMonth2020
Understanding your genre of choice. Yeesh. All of you non-writers might not understand why this can be such a headache, but don't worry, we all want to bash our heads in together. Nah, it's not that bad. ...Or is it?
Today, we’re going to go over character development and getting your characters up and running quickly and efficiently. I’d love it if you feel comfortable sharing one, two, or all of any characters you may develop as a result of this course.
Pantsers and Plotters. What the heck is a pantser and who the heck is a plotter? If you're asking yourself that question, you've asked the right question at the right time, so without further ado, let's get Write On In.
Everyone has questions for the authors who turn blank pages into epic stories, but which ones boil our skin the most?
The human range of emotions is far greater than we can consciously perceive.
It's easy to generalize them by saying things like, "angry," "sad," or "scared," but how do we hone in on those emotions?
How do we, as writers, make an individual emotion expressed by a fictional character somehow seem believable?
Have you ever tried to write a book?
If not, have you ever thought about how much work goes into it?
More importantly, if you have… have you ever thought about how much work goes into it?
Whether you're at for the actual start of your book, or if you’re just having a hard time starting out today, try out some character journaling.
Writing Prompts
Writing Videos
Today, I’m just going to be doing my little Small Booktuber Tag
Liz over at Galactic Reads tagged me to do this like two months ago.
I finally have the time to fit it in, and as of this recording I now have two other videos that I've been tagged in, so I'm gonna try and start getting all of those out of the way.
This is the first time I've ever gotten a weekly reading update like this.
If you saw my TBR video from last week, you will know that I am taking place in the Reindeer Games Readathon over on the Shelf Space Discord, which I will link down there in that description box.
I am on Team Kevin McCallister, and as of the recording of this video, I don't really know how the team rankings stand, but from what I've been told, we're at least not in last.
Today I am going to be doing my definitive ranking of all 15 seasons of SUpernatural. I'm a little bit nervous about this video because this is my first attempt into really entering into the foray of fandom world.
I know that the Supernatural fam is pretty crazy. And I use the word "family" because Supernatural is really more of a family than a fandom.
All I really have to say about that, to be honest, is that I completely accept and embrace all opinions that might disagree with my ranking…
Today I'm super excited because I am filming my very first TBR video!
Oh, my gosh, I have seen so many of these over the last couple of months and I am so excited to finally be able to have one of these of my own.
And just in case you are out there and you have no idea what TBR means, that is just "to be read," and this month I am taking place and the Reindeer Games Readathon over at the Shelf Space Discord, which I will link there down in the description box.
If you are new to this channel, my name is Andrew, and this is the last of these little reaction videos that I have been making over these writing advice videos I made when I was much younger than I am now.
This has been kind of a crazy month here for me on YouTube with lots of these kind of reactions and self reflections and all this crazy stuff.
There's been laughter, there's been tears, but I finished my NaNo 2020 book, I finished going through my blog.
I hate NaNoWriMo.
I literally wonder how many people…
Today is literally day 15 for me.
It is November 14, but I started on October 31, because of all these stupid daily prompts that I'm doing.
And I've just had a love/hate with some character development this morning, because I've always, I guess, struggled to explain to non-writers how much writing a book affects them.
MR. SATURDAY NIGHT?
Why would you name your horse Mr. Saturday night?
Your horse??
I have two other blog reaction videos, and at the moment I have two other video reaction videos of me just going through some of my old stuff; writings, and writing videos, and things that I've done in the past on my little journey to reconnect with myself through this National Novel Writing Month 2020 adventure.
So, I don't really want to waste too much time over here, because I know Lezlie, over at Nerdy Narrative, loves these videos so much.
Today, I'm going to be reacting to another writing video that I made six years ago.
Last week had me dragging 2014 Andrew through the mud and Lezlie, over at the Nerdy Narrative, tells me I have to be nicer to him this week.
We'll see what happens.
Right now is the middle of National Novel Writing Month 2020, and I'm on this journey of self-discovery/self-reflection, as it influences the main character of the book that I am writing for National Novel Writing Month 2020.
Today I'm going to be continuing my little revisit of my first ever blog, that I had from 2012, when I first did National Novel Writing Month,
I just shaved my face for the first time in, like, six years, so this is what I look like in my 30s.
I have some thoughts.
First of all, I just got out of the shower, so, my face is cold. It was very strange to feel water actually on it, but I also think that I kind of look good.
It's weird that’s, like, my smile.
Today, I’m gonna be reacting to the first time I tried to give writing advice six years ago during National Novel Writing Month 2014.
NaNo 2012 was the first time I participated in all of this, which was what that last reaction video was about.
I don't know, I’m excited about today, so I’m not even gonna waste any time.
Those of you who have been around, or those of you who have seen my Novel Impact trailer that I made, know that I’m sharing my National Novel Writing Month novel kind of “live,” I guess.
I don't know, but I’m trying to reconnect with parts of myself, and I’m trying to be a little bit more vulnerable, and I’m trying to find parts of myself that didn't care so much about what other people thought.
For real, to the general Shelf Space community, or anyone that I have or have not yet met on BookTube: I love you so much.
Just for those of you who do not know, I’ve essentially created a book from scratch.
My friend gave me some random genres, I put them in a generator, and it came out with dark fantasy. From there, I've basically just used the "rules" of constructing a novel to make said book through a series of tutorials.
Next month, I'm going to keep you up to date with that through a weekly writing vlog.
You've got questions, I've got answers. Who am I, how do I fit into the BookTube community, and just what do I like to read?
I just wanted to take a quick moment to thank those of you who have already liked, shared, commented, and, most importantly, subscribed to this channel. Going forward, I'm going to take a moment on the last Thursday of every month to pause, thank those of you who support me, reflect on where I've been, and discuss what I have planned next.
Hello, all my beautiful creatives, and thank you for joining me for the very first episode of Write On In!
Well, damn, it’s already the end of January 2024, which means we’re headfirst into another year with a load of…whatever. Honestly, some years are better than others, and the last four have been a whirlwind for everybody. It’s just crazy that, three years ago, time seemed to be crawling by for everyone while we were under lockdown and isolation. Now, time has gone back to its blink-and-you’ll-miss-it pace and it’s hard to keep up.
Sometimes life is full of twists and turns. Here’s an update on what’s going on in mine.
This is the story of how it all made sense
I disappeared from the world when I went to New Zealand, save some Facebook statuses and Instagram photos.
When I think of the "fantasy" genre, I think of imagination.
Nothing's too big for the world you make up.
I grew up in the foothills of Yosemite, and my neighbors were the wildlife. I would come home from school, having already finished my homework, so I could venture into our backyard and let my imagination run wild.
The first image I ever had in my mind that made me want to write Immortality Awaits was that of a shadow, which eventually made its way into two shadows known as Varnio and Xandio.
I saw Xandio floating above a group of people, sticking to the ceiling with his long, tattered black robe swaying in a gentle breeze as various lightning flashes illuminated him.
One of the most daunting tasks any new or seasoned writer has to endure is creating a character from nothing.
It heavily consists of us pouring our blood, sweat, and tears into our babies in hopes they turn out to be the best possible characters they can be.
But where do we start?
In a place called Lowell, in the state of Massachusetts, one can find a quaint, beautiful, perfect, everybody-in-their-life-should-experience-it-at-least-once town.
This town plays a major backdrop for Immortality Awaits, and even though it's only in the beginning of the novel, my discovery of it was something I never expected.
The random, fateful story of events goes like this:
If you’ve checked out my About Me page, you’ll know I write books. Likewise, if you’ve checked out my Books page, you’ll know I write books. Hell, if you recognize you’re on an author’s website, you’ll know I write books. More importantly, if you know me personally, follow me on Twitter or Instagram, or just Google my name, you’ll know I write books.
The question is: Where are they?
The noise of society can drown your thoughts. Cars honking every five minutes, planes landing at random, people fighting on the streets, in their homes. In a world full of rage, narcissism, and a lack of respect, it can be hard for a writer to do just that -- be still and write.
Be still and reflect.
Author Journey
Book Reviews
They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera is a heartwarming and raw look into the topic of death.
The story follows our two main characters, Mateo Torrez and Rufus Emeterio. Mateo is a reserved eighteen-year-old. His dad is in a coma and he's extremely antisocial and afraid to do anything. Rufus, on the other hand, is a seventeen-year-old orphan. He has a gang known as “The Plutos” based on their orphanage. He’s also the sole survivor of a car crash that killed his whole family.
Shade is a fast-paced sophomore novel written by Chad Nicholas.
The plot of Shade follows Detective Jack Diamond as he tries to stop a serial killer from killing a woman named Sara Michaels, who exhibits some of the physical traits the killer looks for in his victims.
Stephen King is arguably one of the most powerful and influential writers of our time. You may or may not have read his books. Perhaps you've or seen one of their onscreen adaptations. Either way, I'm sure the name rings a bell.
Among those books and adaptations, you may have heard references to his one and only series: The Dark Tower.
Where do I even start with The Princess Bride by William Goldman?
Okay, I’ll start off by saying this is now my third book-to-movie comparison. The first, The Neverending Story, had a point for the book being better than the movie. The second, The Last Unicorn, came in at a tie, although I didn’t particularly enjoy either.
I loved every second of Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty. Like many others, I came to this book after the TV show. At the time of this writing, I am living in Monterey where a great portion of the show was filmed. I’m leaving within the week, and I wanted to give this book a go before I left, even though I knew the book itself took place in Australia.
As for a standalone, I certainly think this can be read separately from the main First Law series.
The same is often said for books like The Heroes (which I have read) and Red Country (which I haven’t).
The Heroes, for me, felt like a book that would be enjoyed more having read the First Law first (which I did.) While I agree it can be read by itself, I’d easily recommend Best Served Cold as a great place to start for those looking for a standalone.
I’ve oscillated a lot with my opinion on it since finishing. I’ll settle with it’s not “as good” as everybody says, but it's not a “bad” read, either.
I should open by saying that I like the writing style of V.E. Schwab. This was my first attempt at a Schwab novel. While it may not have me running out to get another one immediately, I’m certainly open to reading more of her work.
Have you ever seen The Last Unicorn? Kind of a weird/freaky/awesome 80’s cartoon that those of us from that era grew up with? Or ever read the book, written by Peter S. Beagle?
Let’s talk about the book-to-movie comparison, shall we?
The Neverending Story was a childhood favorite that carried over into adulthood. I didn’t know it was a book until my late teens, when I started working at Borders and found a copy on the shelves.
The first time I read it, I thought that the movie had done a really good job following along with the major plot points of the book — for the half that was covered, anyway.
It has been 12 hours since I finished Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson.
While I am decompressing, I need to let out my thoughts.
I will start with what I did not like, just to get it out of the way.
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer is one of the most detailed, grotesque, entrancing, and captivating stories I have ever read in my entire life. I came into this text somewhat blind, but also as a big fan of the movie. My main hope with reading this book would be that some of the things from that movie would make more sense — and they sure did.
I’ll be honest, a nitpicky formatting thing had me iffy with the spaces in between each paragraph. Made me feel more like I was investing in a series of blog posts as opposed to a novel. I was pleasantly surprised with what I found throughout this text.
Pyresouls Apocalypse by James T. Callum is a great book. Admittedly, it was my first in the Literary Role Playing Game — or LitRPG — genre.
Monster Whisperer by JB Trepagnier is a fun, lighthearted book that, while readable, would have been much better if it had seen some more development. I can understand that the author publishes books quickly, which does actually add to the appeal. It’s still a well-thought-out story, considering the amount of series and other books the author publishes.
The Queen’s Executioner by Christopher Mitchell was an okay start to The Mageland’s Epic series. Truth be told, I was a little thrown off from the start by the pages about the races and the huge list of characters and how they were interrelated — some of which never even saw the light of day within the text itself.
"An incredible look into the human mind, what it means to exist, what it means to have memories, the very idea of trust and identity, and, yes, isolation. Loneliness. But through all of that… desire, and longing, and hope, and searching for something that is different than the present and greater than the past."
This is the FIRST DRAFT of the novel, flaws and all, that I am writing for National Novel Writing Month 2020. Please refer to these posts to see the entire creation of this, from scratch, should you desire. Comments will be closed as of January 1, 2021. For any comments prior to that, please... be kind. This is a first draft! It's just meant to help inspire anyone to write anything, whether good or bad.
This is the FIRST DRAFT of the novel, flaws and all, that I am writing for National Novel Writing Month 2020. Please refer to these posts to see the entire creation of this, from scratch, should you desire. Comments will be closed as of January 1, 2021. For any comments prior to that, please... be kind. This is a first draft! It's just meant to help inspire anyone to write anything, whether good or bad.
This is the FIRST DRAFT of the novel, flaws and all, that I am writing for National Novel Writing Month 2020. Please refer to these posts to see the entire creation of this, from scratch, should you desire. Comments will be closed as of January 1, 2021. For any comments prior to that, please... be kind. This is a first draft! It's just meant to help inspire anyone to write anything, whether good or bad.
This is the FIRST DRAFT of the novel, flaws and all, that I am writing for National Novel Writing Month 2020. Please refer to these posts to see the entire creation of this, from scratch, should you desire. Comments will be closed as of January 1, 2021. For any comments prior to that, please... be kind. This is a first draft! It's just meant to help inspire anyone to write anything, whether good or bad.
This is the FIRST DRAFT of the novel, flaws and all, that I am writing for National Novel Writing Month 2020. Please refer to these posts to see the entire creation of this, from scratch, should you desire. Comments will be closed as of January 1, 2021. For any comments prior to that, please... be kind. This is a first draft! It's just meant to help inspire anyone to write anything, whether good or bad.
This is the FIRST DRAFT of the novel, flaws and all, that I am writing for National Novel Writing Month 2020. Please refer to these posts to see the entire creation of this, from scratch, should you desire. Comments will be closed as of January 1, 2021. For any comments prior to that, please... be kind. This is a first draft! It's just meant to help inspire anyone to write anything, whether good or bad.
This is the FIRST DRAFT of the novel, flaws and all, that I am writing for National Novel Writing Month 2020. Please refer to these posts to see the entire creation of this, from scratch, should you desire. Comments will be closed as of January 1, 2021. For any comments prior to that, please... be kind. This is a first draft! It's just meant to help inspire anyone to write anything, whether good or bad.
This is the FIRST DRAFT of the novel, flaws and all, that I am writing for National Novel Writing Month 2020. Please refer to these posts to see the entire creation of this, from scratch, should you desire. Comments will be closed as of January 1, 2021. For any comments prior to that, please... be kind. This is a first draft! It's just meant to help inspire anyone to write anything, whether good or bad.
This is the FIRST DRAFT of the novel, flaws and all, that I am writing for National Novel Writing Month 2020. Please refer to these posts to see the entire creation of this, from scratch, should you desire. Comments will be closed as of January 1, 2021. For any comments prior to that, please... be kind. This is a first draft! It's just meant to help inspire anyone to write anything, whether good or bad.
This is the FIRST DRAFT of the novel, flaws and all, that I am writing for National Novel Writing Month 2020. Please refer to these posts to see the entire creation of this, from scratch, should you desire. Comments will be closed as of January 1, 2021. For any comments prior to that, please... be kind. This is a first draft! It's just meant to help inspire anyone to write anything, whether good or bad.
This is the FIRST DRAFT of the novel, flaws and all, that I am writing for National Novel Writing Month 2020. Please refer to these posts to see the entire creation of this, from scratch, should you desire. Comments will be closed as of January 1, 2021. For any comments prior to that, please... be kind. This is a first draft! It's just meant to help inspire anyone to write anything, whether good or bad.
This is the FIRST DRAFT of the novel, flaws and all, that I am writing for National Novel Writing Month 2020. Please refer to these posts to see the entire creation of this, from scratch, should you desire. Comments will be closed as of January 1, 2021. For any comments prior to that, please... be kind. This is a first draft! It's just meant to help inspire anyone to write anything, whether good or bad.
This is the FIRST DRAFT of the novel, flaws and all, that I am writing for National Novel Writing Month 2020. Please refer to these posts to see the entire creation of this, from scratch, should you desire. Comments will be closed as of January 1, 2021. For any comments prior to that, please... be kind. This is a first draft! It's just meant to help inspire anyone to write anything, whether good or bad.
This is the FIRST DRAFT of the novel, flaws and all, that I am writing for National Novel Writing Month 2020. Please refer to these posts to see the entire creation of this, from scratch, should you desire. Comments will be closed as of January 1, 2021. For any comments prior to that, please... be kind. This is a first draft! It's just meant to help inspire anyone to write anything, whether good or bad.
This is the FIRST DRAFT of the novel, flaws and all, that I am writing for National Novel Writing Month 2020. Please refer to these posts to see the entire creation of this, from scratch, should you desire. Comments will be closed as of January 1, 2021. For any comments prior to that, please... be kind. This is a first draft! It's just meant to help inspire anyone to write anything, whether good or bad.
This is the FIRST DRAFT of the novel, flaws and all, that I am writing for National Novel Writing Month 2020. Please refer to these posts to see the entire creation of this, from scratch, should you desire. Comments will be closed as of January 1, 2021. For any comments prior to that, please... be kind. This is a first draft! It's just meant to help inspire anyone to write anything, whether good or bad.
This is the FIRST DRAFT of the novel, flaws and all, that I am writing for National Novel Writing Month 2020. Please refer to these posts to see the entire creation of this, from scratch, should you desire. Comments will be closed as of January 1, 2021. For any comments prior to that, please... be kind. This is a first draft! It's just meant to help inspire anyone to write anything, whether good or bad.
This is the FIRST DRAFT of the novel, flaws and all, that I am writing for National Novel Writing Month 2020. Please refer to these posts to see the entire creation of this, from scratch, should you desire. Comments will be closed as of January 1, 2021. For any comments prior to that, please... be kind. This is a first draft! It's just meant to help inspire anyone to write anything, whether good or bad.
This is the FIRST DRAFT of the novel, flaws and all, that I am writing for National Novel Writing Month 2020. Please refer to these posts to see the entire creation of this, from scratch, should you desire. Comments will be closed as of January 1, 2021. For any comments prior to that, please... be kind. This is a first draft! It's just meant to help inspire anyone to write anything, whether good or bad.
This is the FIRST DRAFT of the novel, flaws and all, that I am writing for National Novel Writing Month 2020. Please refer to these posts to see the entire creation of this, from scratch, should you desire. Comments will be closed as of January 1, 2021. For any comments prior to that, please... be kind. This is a first draft! It's just meant to help inspire anyone to write anything, whether good or bad.
This is the FIRST DRAFT of the novel, flaws and all, that I am writing for National Novel Writing Month 2020. Please refer to these posts to see the entire creation of this, from scratch, should you desire. Comments will be closed as of January 1, 2021. For any comments prior to that, please... be kind. This is a first draft! It's just meant to help inspire anyone to write anything, whether good or bad.
This is the FIRST DRAFT of the novel, flaws and all, that I am writing for National Novel Writing Month 2020. Please refer to these posts to see the entire creation of this, from scratch, should you desire. Comments will be closed as of January 1, 2021. For any comments prior to that, please... be kind. This is a first draft! It's just meant to help inspire anyone to write anything, whether good or bad.
This is the FIRST DRAFT of the novel, flaws and all, that I am writing for National Novel Writing Month 2020. Please refer to these posts to see the entire creation of this, from scratch, should you desire. Comments will be closed as of January 1, 2021. For any comments prior to that, please... be kind. This is a first draft! It's just meant to help inspire anyone to write anything, whether good or bad.
If you’ve ever even attempted to write anything in story format, you’ve more than likely found yourself caught in the middle of the debate over dialogue tags and whether “said” is the only one you should use. It’s long been a source of controversy in the writing community, especially those who prefer more descriptive alternatives. Some argue that "said" is invisible to readers and should be used exclusively, while others believe that more varied tags add flavor and depth to dialogue.
Debate aside, the actual truth is that dialogue tools are a tool, and like any tool, they should be used strategically.