Quick post!

Here's a picture I took today:

I used the photo editor on my phone! Can you believe it? It's awesome! Or so I think.

-Costello

It's Been Awhile.

Sorry, guys. Both Olive and I have been really busy.

Well, I have. Not too sure about my co-blogger. Haven't talked to her in awhile...

But yeah. And I apologize. We've just got a lot going on, like I'm moving exactly a week for today.

And I'm not ready. I don't want to go. At all.

But it is what it is. I can't change that now.

I promise, as soon as I'm settled in, I will talk to Olive, and we'll get this whole thing straightened out. :)

'Til then!

-Costello

Our First Guest Poster of the New Blog!

Yeah! It's been awhile since we've had a guest poster, and I sent the word out to a few places, and now we have our first! Everyone, please help me welcome Alice!

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So I've noticed a lot of things in the making of original characters. 

To most fanfiction writers, original characters are known as 'OCs', and to others, 'MCs'. 

And a lot, and I mean a lot, of original story writers have their OCs... In an unnatural manner. 

They seem too perfect to be true; having extremely contradictory personality traits, having flawless looks, being über-powerful...

They just don't have flaws of any kind.

Etcetera. Makes you a bit sick in the stomach, eh?

Right. These OCs are known as 'Mary-Sues'. They aren't well-liked in the fanfiction world- I dunno about the original fiction world. 

And I don't like them either. It outwardly shows that the OC creator hasn't given much research or effort into making the character. 

Yeah, there aren't any set rules, but there are guidelines that most good authors use. 

As a veteran story writer, I've asked well-reputed OC makers for advice. Here's what they generally say:

Make the character's personality and past make sense.

No one wants to read a story about a girl/boy whose personality keeps switching around[1]. It makes the reader confused. 

And give the character depth. Give them a PLAUSIBLE reason as to how and why they act that way. By plausible, I mean don't make your character's family all be murdered by a fire, and the aftermath is that your character is happy and fun. 

Also, give them flaws. Not everyone is perfect. 

Their pasts shouldn't be unrealistically tragic. I see this a lot in OCs in an attempt to 'de-Sueify' them. It doesn't. And if the past is that way, try and make the aftermath make sense. 

And that's all! It's that easy. 

And to make things easier, there's a plethora of Mary-Sue tests on the Internet that help. There are also character guides for every fandom (search a writing website like Wattpad, it may show up) all over the Internet. 

Especially on Quizilla. There are a lot of helpful (and not-so-helpful) guides there. A user there that I learned from is TuttiFrutti999[2], who made a lot of hilarious and extensive guides on the making of plots and OCs. 

And also, talk to the OC creators. They help lots! Believe me. 

Anything else? Comments, questions, observations?

Google them- most likely, they'll come up! 

Well, hope this helped with your (if you're an OC maker) OCs!

Alice out♥

N O T E S;

[1] Unless, of course, your character has Multi Personality Disorder. 

[ 2 ] She actually isn't on Quizilla anymore. Her guides are still there though, and if anyone wants to read them- they're here. They're a bit full of swearing, though. Not for the young.

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Wonderful post! Thank you, Alice. You can find her tumblr here. If anyone wants to guest post and/or has any questions, you can email us at random_bloggers43@yahoo.com.

Thanks, and happy blogging!

-Costello

Poetry!

No, sorry, not my poetry. I don't write poems... >.> Except when I was like seven I wrote a poem about socks. Maybe that'll be revealed later. ;)

No! But today I'm going to share with you lovely people one of my favorite poems, and also because I can't think of anything else to post about. xD

"It was many and many a year ago,

In a kingdom by the sea,

That a maiden there lived whom you may know

By the name of Annabel Lee;

And this maiden she lived with no other thought

Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,

In this kingdom by the sea;

But we loved with a love that was more than love –

I and my Annabel Lee;

With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven

Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,

In this kingdom by the sea,

A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling

My beautiful Annabel Lee;

So that her highborn kinsmen came

And bore her away from me,

To shut her up in a sepulcher,

In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in heaven,

Went envying her and me –

Yes! – that was the reason (as all men know,

In this kingdom by the sea)

That the wind came out of the cloud by night,

Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love

Of those who were older than we –

Of many far wiser than we –

And neither the angels in heaven above,

Nor the demons down under the sea,

Can ever dissever my soul from the soul

Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.

For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams

Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes

Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side

Of my darling – my darling – my life and my bride,

In the sepulcher there by the sea,

In her tomb by the sounding sea."

Annabel Lee by Edgar Allen Poe

-Costello

Three things.

Olive here!

First off – Our 100^th post Contest winner is – here.You can view the winner’s entry – here.

Second - I have been working on a small project that I’d like to share with you guys if you’d like to be a part of it. It’s a 20 day long process, and its writing related. Pretty much, for each day there are three sentences, and 3 sense cards. (From – The Writer’s Toolbox) I'll post the three sentences, what they are for, the 3 cards, here for you if you'd like. Your job is to write something based on either all three sentences, or all 3 cards, OR write something based off of all the items that will be listed. I'll try to make everything set up ahead of time for you guys, and I'll post for the first 5 days, and if you guys like it then, leave a comment and I'll add the other days! Once we're out of days, and you guys still (oh wow) want to keep getting promotes, then be sure to leave some comments on some theme ideas for each day! I would really need the help by that point in time! 

Third - Cossy and I one an award 0_0 From this lovely blog, and unfortunately I don't have time to do everything the award requires, so I shall do it tomorrow and post it for you guys! Thank you by the way for dealing with our absents! Cossy and I both are very busy with a new school year! Once we get used to everything we will be back up with the posting! Which will hopefully be very soon!

Night! 

-Olive

This is a rather special post.

It was about a year ago, on July 16th, that Photography43 and Costello_Shields decided to create a blog together.

Then, they had other ideas of what this blog was going to be like. The two of them discovered that the other liked to write and take pictures, but at the beginning it was just a photography blog until one of them decided to integrate some writing into the picture (pun intended).

Things have happened. Posts have been missed, templates have been changed, hiatuses have been long and un-postful, and then there were joyous reunions and wonderful readers. These two bloggers have gone through many words and pictures, and they would like to thank everyone who has been there from the beginning, and those of you who might've just found the blog today. They couldn't have made it to 100 posts without their wonderful viewers.

Thank you, and Happy 100th Post.

-Costello

Me Again!

Hi there! Olive can't post today, so here I am!
So, none of you have entered the contest yet! :( You should! Just fill out this form:

Subject: 100th Post Submission
Name:
Your Blog (Optional):
Type of entry (Poem, Short Story, Photograph):
Title of Entry:
Description of Entry:
Word Count/Size:

And you're all set!

There are prizes, too! You can get two of the following:

A poem written by Olive

A short story written by me

An icon for your blog or anything (I'm new to the whole in-depth computer creating things and such, so please bear with me)

A few links to sites that can help make your blog look pretty, including some HTML coding How-To sites

A guest post on our blog

And for winning, we will write a blog post about you and your entry, and if you allow us to we will showcase your entry for everyone to see! And we will link your blog in the post.

Sorry for the not-so-good prizes, but that's all we can supply. Au revoir! Have fun entering!

-Costello