A.J. Winter | Author

Amanda || 25 || Write a YA SFF book, WE WRETCHED THINGS. Alternatively called #projectbellarkebook

[thepersonalquotes]

[old-school-romantics]

A half-finished book is, after all, a half-finished love affair.

[heylucien]

If The Hating Game and The Spanish Love Deception didn’t make you want to work a 9-5, you’re immune to all capitalist propaganda

[whatonthebloodyearth]

A highly underrated trope:

Enemies to lovers but ‘i never despised you’

[nikasholistic]

Don’t care about your writing pace. Care about the joy writing brings you. Care about your story, the wonderful creation of your imagination.

[scriptwriters-network]

“I write books because I have always been fascinated by stories and language, and because I love thinking about what makes people tick.”

—

Lois Lowry

[ajwinterbooks]

Top 5 Things I’ve Learned from a Decade of Writing

1. Read. 

2. You don’t need to read craft books to be a good writer. If you read a lot, you will learn to pick up things you like that your favorite authors did. V.E. Schwab and Sarah J. Maas have taught me so much about writing as I read their work.

3. Your process is YOUR process. You can learn tips and tricks from other writers, sure, but at the end of the day it is your book and how it gets complete is up to you.

4. Editing is where the book really shines. If you can make it past draft one, your book will 100% surprise you. This is where I’ve made a lot of discoveries about my books.

5. You can’t search for inspiration, it just randomly comes to you. It’s so fun when you just happen upon it.

[braveclxrke]

Damn remember that show the 100 that ended after 6 seasons, that was a good show

[ajwinterbooks]

It’s been a while since I’ve uploaded on Instagram. I haven’t been writing which is killing me, but I’ve been filling my creative pool while I haven’t. I just finished Jane the Virgin and I just want to write a love story as beautiful as hers 😭 I also found her writing life so motivating and I wish my family was as supportive as hers. ⠀ I wanted to share this map with you because it’s something I’m still so proud of and I can’t wait to try and redo it one day 🥰 ⠀ 🌺🌺🌺 ⠀ #amwriting #writer #author #writersofig #writersofinstagram #writestagram #authorsofinstagram #write #writing #writingcommunity #nanowrimo #novel #novelwriting #writinggoals #writergoals #inspiredtowrite #writerlife #writinglife #YA #YAwriter ⠀

https://www.instagram.com/p/B2EicVRgcNu/?igshid=p0ew3poix0x3

[ajwinterbooks]

Writing has become one of those things that I always want to do, but I find myself struggling to sit down and commit to doing. It’s hard because it’s all I ever wanted to do. Writing has always allowed me to escape and be free. It’s a place that is so near and dear to my heart that I call home. ⠀ Over the summer, I felt this sort of weight wash over me and I wanted to do nothing but play Sims and watch tv. That’s it. I didn’t want to do anything that would require me doing too much. While it was nice, it continued once school started. So what did I do? I moved my book from Scrivener to Word. And finally, the words started flowing. And I finally feel motivated to work on this book again 🥰🥰 ⠀ 🌺🌺🌺 ⠀ #amwriting #writer #author #writersofig #writersofinstagram #writestagram #authorsofinstagram #write #writing #writingcommunity #nanowrimo #novel #novelwriting #writinggoals #writergoals #inspiredtowrite #writerlife #writinglife #YA #YAwriter #projectechobook ⠀

https://www.instagram.com/p/B2W60cXg1-v/?igshid=1alenhmr1w8bm

[ajwinterbooks]

I’ve been taking a little time away to fill my creative pool. I’ve been playing Sims and making up storylines there. I’ve just been immersing my free-time with other methods of storytelling and I’m having so much fun. But it’s time to dive back in. ⠀ Recently, I saw a fun little hashtag on twitter called #FinishUrBookFall . This tag is meant to rally the writing community and motivate writers to finish their books. I’ve been sitting on this manuscript for so long that I need to finish it. It’s time. My characters deserve that ending and I can’t wait to write it! ⠀ So today, I’m going to sit down on National Coffee Day with my iced coffee and write all the words once my homework is done. And I can’t wait. ⠀ 🍂🍁🍂 ⠀ #amwriting #writer #author #writersofig #writersofinstagram #writestagram #authorsofinstagram #write #writing #writingcommunity #nanowrimo #novel #novelwriting #writinggoals #writergoals #inspiredtowrite #writerlife #writinglife #YA #YAwriter #projectechobook #FinishUrBookFall ⠀

https://www.instagram.com/p/B3AB9EsgljJ/?igshid=7h8x9gtez193

[ajwinterbooks]

An excerpt from the opening chapter of my YA Science Fiction novel I’m drafting. Think The 100 meets Legend (Marie Lu). 

[abbeyunedited]

You’re writing the book that will change someone’s life. Keep going.

[flimseywhimsey]

[kaylewiswrites]

You know what’s cool? Your WIP can only ever get closer to finished.

Even if it takes decades. Even if you only write a sentence a day. Even if you start the whole thing over again, it’s getting closer to your finished version of it. 

As long as you don’t decide to stop forever, it has to get done. However fast or slow, you are the momentum. Completion is inevitable. 

[ajwinterbooks]

Meet My Book: We Wretched Things

I’ve been writing this book since I started college in 2013. This has been the story of my heart, and it’s evolved in sooo many ways over the years. It’s dual 3rd POV, and I’m so in love with it. This is my third complete redraft of it (and draft six, seven, or eight...I lost count, honestly). 

The premise is that the world starts off with a bombing that kills the world’s sole leader, Alang Tchue, or commonly referred to as “The President.” The world lived in absolute fear of him for years, and now that he’s dead, there’s unrest around the world. My main character, Aurelia is sent to a rebel camp called Adrestia (named after the Goddess of Vengeance) all the way in Old Scotland (in/around Dunvegan castle). Our other protagonist, Arrow, was once a guard tasked with protecting the streets after curfew for The President. He’d worked with him over the years, and he was well on his way for getting a promotion on a new project The President was working on. He will do anything to protect his sister, Harlowe, but when she betrays him and who he was loyal to, he must find new meaning in the chaos that life had begun dealing him.

So that’s my book thus far. It’s a lot about kind of where your loyalties lie after that person has betrayed you in a way you didn’t think possible, found family, and coming to terms with who you need to (as Bellamy Blake once so elegantly said in an episode of The 100, “Who we are and who we need to be to survive are very different things.”).

[macrolit]

Reblog with just TWO choices

[ajwinterbooks]

1 and 6. You can find me in Edinburgh ✌🏻