The Good Seed IV. What changed your life? If not for a certain person, event, tragedy or triumph, you’d be coasting along through life, content with your job in benefits administration, trimming your lawn, living for the weekend and never missing an episode of “Community”. But that’s not you. You’re on a unique path. Your purpose in life is higher. Why? Something or someone shaped you. That’s true of stories, too. That shove or provocation is the story’s inciting incident. One way to look at inciting incidents is to see them either as something someone does, or something that’s done unto your characters. Here are some ways to develop your inciting incident: Who can say or do something to your protagonist that gives them great pain, hope, responsibility or fear?
A well-constructed inciting incident will stir up your readers but leave them with no idea what they would do. Photo courtesy Flickr’s Leshaines123. Protecting Your Writing Time – And Yourself. GIVEAWAY: One commenter will receive a signed, first-edition copy of today’s profiled novel, Wallflower in Bloom, (plus a flower hair clip so you can read it in style), to be chosen at random next Tuesday. Good luck! Therese here. I’m so pleased to bring you today’s guest–master class writing teacher and bestselling author of nine novels, Claire Cook. (And writers, here’s some inspiration for you: Claire wrote her first novel at age 45, mostly in a minivan while her daughter attended swim practice!)
Deirdre Griffin has a great life; it’s just not her own. Claire isn’t a prolific author by accident; she finds time to write, and works to protect it. Protecting Your Writing Time – And Yourself Every day, your life bombards you with perfectly legitimate excuses not to get your writing done: sick kids, leaky roofs, roots in desperate need of a touch-up. So this is how I do it: When I’m writing a novel, I write two pages a day, seven days a week. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. I’m Not Above Spying. Therese here. Today’s guest is WU community member, Julia Munroe Martin. Julia is a writer and editor who blogs from one of the best places in the world–the coast of Maine.
She has experience as a business and technical writer as well as a journalist, and she is currently, in her own words, “a novelist-in-progress.” (Love that.) She’s been working on a story for ~7 years, and during that time she’s learned how to gather information about people in an interesting way. We’re so glad she’s here today to tell us more about that. I’m Not Above Spying I almost used a pseudonym for this post. Because here’s the thing. But which came first, the chicken or the egg?
First the basics. Here are some techniques that work for me. Eavesdrop on conversations to help develop realistic dialogue and new story ideas. Take photos of strangers to use as character inspiration. Watch people to help develop realistic, three-dimensional characters. Follow people to learn more about character motivation. Nine Tips Being a Reliable Writer. How to Break the Rules & Get Published. 25 Ways to Improve Your Writing in 30 Minutes a Day. Home. Details Category: Current Issue Created on Monday, 31 March 2014 06:13 Published on Tuesday, 01 April 2014 03:00 Hits: 182 Issue 75 This is issue 75 of Vision: A Resource for Writers!
Remember, too, that you can help support Vision: A Resource for Writers by buying copies of previous issues for your eReader Here. Vision: A Resource for Writers is written by writers for writers. I am always looking for new articles as well. The Future of Vision: A Resource for Writers Have you enjoyed reading Vision: A Resource for Writers? From the Editor: Shiny! You know the feeling, right? Inky Girl Comic (Save the Comma) -- by Debbie Ridpath Ohi Workshop: Setting Editing Goals -- by Lazette Gifford Work patterns. Indie Corner: The Dangers of All Eggs in One Basket -- by J. As is usual in the Indie world, it seems there is a big news item every week. Funny Way to Put It, Part 2: Defying Expectation -- by S. Q: Why did the dwarf not buy a round of beer for his dwarven friends? A: Because he was a little short. By L. Creativity? Train Your Brain to be an Idea-Generating machine. Boost your creativity A guest post by Cheryl Craigie of The Manageable Life It seemed so easy at first, didn’t it?
Your blog posts came fast and furious. You were excited and inspired. The words came easily. Then one day you went to your creative well and it was dry—not damp, mind you, but Sahara Desert dry. As a survivor of the “dry well syndrome,” I can tell you that that this happens to all of us at some point. First, the bad news: Evolution is working against you. Your brain evolved to be an efficient machine—it looks for easy, familiar answers based on past experience.
So sitting at your desk and commanding your brain to fill the well without doing anything to prime the pump is probably not the best strategy. Now the good news: The brain can learn new ways of thinking and create new neural connections. Neuroscientists used to believe that your brain was fully formed by early adulthood and nothing you did could change it. 1. 2. 3. 4. Athletes use creative visualization all the time. Best Blogs for Writers. While rolling through my typical stable of writing blogs this morning, I stumbled upon this great article by Writer’s Market editor Robert Lee Brewer (if you don’t follow @robertleebrewer on Twitter, you should). Anyway, he put together a great list of 39 Great Writing Blogs that he believes are most worthy of your precious time. Here’s what he says: There are so many blogs out there by and for writers. The list below identifies blogs that I personally think are the best blogs for writers to read. If you don’t agree with any of the selections (or think I missed a spot), then share your faves in the comments below.
That way, I can check them out for next year’s list.Best Blogs for Writers He then goes on to list all of them in tiers of All-Star Blogs (best of the best), Great Blogs (ready to crack into the best of the best) and Blogs that Rock (worth checking out regularly). What do you think? Writing Rules: 10 Experts Take on the Writer's Rulebook. How to Become a Better Writer. The Writing Process: Step One. Prewriting. Freewriting. Mind Mapping. Clustering. If you’ve taken a creative writing or English composition class, you’ve likely encountered these terms. They represent an important step in the writing process and, in my view, the easiest and most fun. The gist of prewriting is to let ideas flow directly from your brain to the page, before they can be edited into submission. Prewriting Techniques to Jump-Start Creativity Whether you opt for the tried-and-true “wheel” approach (with subcategories radiating like spokes from your central theme), or a linear, list-based approach, the goal of all prewriting exercises is the same: freeing your subconscious mind to generate ideas, with a focus on quantity versus quality.
You have nothing to lose and nothing to prove, so enjoy this opportunity to celebrate your creative genius. Try these prewriting techniques from Write-a-Thon by Rochelle Melander: 7 Prewriting Exercises to Launch the Writing Process: Mind Mapping. What does each character want? How to End a Novel. Your closer is the most important incident in the novel, bar none. Yes, the opener is critical, but only second in importance to the climax.
The opener must impress an agent enough to ask for more pages to help her decide whether or not to represent your book. The opener must impress an editor enough to force him to ask for more pages to help him decide whether or not to buy your book. The opener must impress the reader to take your book home from the bookstore. But it’s the finale that closes the deal for all three parties—that’s the reason I call it the closer and am going to walk you through how to end a novel. The Closer Defined The question is, when I say closer, do I mean the climax, the resolution or both? I don’t mean to tell you that your opener requires a minimum of seven incidents. Key Questions for the Closer What readers say after they put your book down matters more for your sales than what they say when they pick it up.
Is this Incident a titanic final struggle? Key Advice for Writing Fantasy: Fantasy Writing Advice From a Pro. Paranormal writing is still hot… Whether you love the Twilight phenomenon or hate it, the buzz around teen vampires and werewolves is still going strong. If you’re into spooky writing—from the YA side of writing fantasy stories to things a bit darker (like horror writing)—times are both good and bad for you. Good because interest in paranormal writing is at an all time high. Bad because competition is stiff—there’s a ton of writers out there trying to do the same thing. Coming up with something original when it comes to fantasy writing can be challenging. Before setting down the road of trying to get your paranormal novel published, you’ll want to really polish it to perfection and do plenty of market research to make sure you’re ready to dive into the fray. Fantasy writing advice from a pro… A good source of advice for aspiring authors of paranormal novels is Steven Harper Piziks (who has penned books under the name Steven Harper, Steven Piziks, and Penny Drake).
Wild Seed by Octavia E. What is Flashback in a Story? Flashbacks can play pivotal roles in any story, whether it be fiction, nonfiction or a script. So what is flashback in a story? Some folks confuse it with backstory, but the time constraints of a flashback don’t allow us to share too many details. They just allow us to reveal tidbits. Here’s a great explanation of writing flashbacks and backstory offered up by Ron Rozelle in Write Great Fiction: Description & Setting: A flashback is a sudden, brief relocation to a previous time and then, just as suddenly, a return to the present story. Flashbacks can hint at backstories, but they aren’t backstories themselves. There you have it. Author Ashley Ream On: Finding Time to Write. I am, as my mother would say, “a busy little beaver.” While writing my most recent novel, I was working full-time, going to school at UCLA and training for a 50 kilometer footrace.
I also slept, ate, saw friends, posted on Twitter and Facebook, blogged, belonged to a book club and watched a number of “Mythbusters” episodes. With that kind of schedule, one question comes up a lot, especially from other writers: “When do you write?” (When building your writer platform and online media, how much growth is enough?) Guest column by Ashley Ream, who got her first job at a newspaper when she was 16.
After working in newsrooms across Missouri, Florida and Texas, she gave up the deadlines to pursue fiction. The short answer to that is most days after work and on weekends when I get behind, which happens more often than I’d like to admit. Then it’s just math. (Learn why “Keep Moving Forward” may be the best advice for writers everywhere.) Then I stick to it. Writing a book is hard. No Related Posts. Walking in This World Week #5. Week #5: Discovering a Sense of Personal Territory Saying yes to our creative selves may involve saying no to our significant others. This week focuses on boundaries.
Identifying current relationships and their role in our lives was part of this week’s exercise. I, however, could not identify who my “fuse lighter” is, or the “wet blanket”, who leaves me feeling neutered, etc. simply because I don’t have many friends. I definitely do not have friends who I am in touch with daily outside of my own family. Julia Cameron tells of a time when she was a young single mother and felt she had to put her dreams on the back burner. If you are not doing what you love you become unhappy, resentful and even angry. “Our artist wants also what it wants and if we don’t give it to our artist, our very core gets angry.” In the task entitled “Be Nice to Yourself” we were to identify things we would love to do if there were no excuses like money, fear, responsibility, etc.
We must invest in ourselves. Hey, Look! A Post About Commas. For my first post of 2013, I thought I’d cover an issue that I mentioned back in 2011. I’m brining it up again because it seems to cause a lot of confusion out there in author land. I say that because it’s one of the things that I often run across. It’s the issue of whether or not to place a comma before a coordinating conjunction (and, but, for, or, nor, so, yet) separating two clauses. Of course, the answer is. . .it depends. Here is the general rule: if both of the clauses separated by the conjunction are independent clauses, then you would include a comma before the conjunction. See what I did there? Conversely, if one of the clauses is a dependent clause, then you do not include the comma. Just in case anyone needs their memory jogged on the subject of independent and dependent clauses, here’s a little refresher.
There is actually a page in the Q & A section of the Chicago Manual of Style’s website that covers this question, and I think it is rather clever of them. Q. A. Heh. Sorry. Wendy's Writing Now: Guest Post - Becca Puglisi from the Bookshelf Muse is Showing Not Telling. First of all a big welcome to Becca Puglisi from The Bookshelf Muse, (click here to view her fantastic blog) who has kindly agreed to do a guest post for me today and again on Wednesday 30th. Anyone who has visited her blog or read The Emotion Thesaurus will understand why I am excited to read her words of wisdom! Today Becca (all the way from sunny from Florida) will be talking to us about 'Showing Not Telling'. Over to you, Becca. What's Telling and What's Wrong With It? Simply put, "telling" is telling the reader something.
Telling usually explains everything right off the bat. 2. 3. What's Showing and Why Is It Preferred? The alternative to telling is showing, which conveys your point to readers in a way that pulls them in and is far more interesting than simply stating a fact. Example 1: · Telling: Nerien was frustrated. · Showing: Nerien jerked upright in bed and reached out, but only felt crumpled blankets and the heave of his own chest.
. · Telling: It was a noisy river. · Showing: Dumping The Info Dumps. The Dreaded Info Dump. Did you wince a little as I wrote that? I know I did. That's because the info dump is something very easy to do, because after all, it's a great way to explain to readers why they should care about our characters, right? Well...not so much. Pssst! Dump the Info Dumps One of the biggest challenges for writers is how to give readers the important backstory of their book without dropping a huge pile of information on them. The big issue with info dumps is that they stop the story dead in the water. The other problem that info dumps cause is that it’s nearly impossible to “show” an info dump. So, how do authors avoid info dumps?
1. 2. 3. I know how hard it can be to avoid overloading your readers with information, but remember readers are smart, so don’t insult them. Compulsion Reads, created by Jessica Bennett and Leslie Ramey, seeks to shine the spotlight on quality indie books by endorsing those books that meet CR’s strict quality standards. How about you, Musers? The Write Life Presents: The 100 Best Websites for Writers in 2014.
25 Unique Places to Find Story Ideas. 62 of the Top Writing Articles from 2013 (That Can Help You in 2014) How To Diagnose Your Novel's Strengths and Weaknesses by Darcy Pattison. Novel Writing: Choosing a Method that Works Best for You by Margo L. Dill. Red Pencil Round-Up: Self-Editing for Fiction Writers. Fifty (50!) Tools Which Can Help You in Writing. Synonyms for 95 Commonly Used Words - A Mini-Thesaurus for Writers. How to Write Authentic Historical Novels.
36 Surprising Ways to Boost Creativity For Free. Tips on Organizing Your Research. Tips for writing a historical romance novel - by Megan Hart. This-n-That Thursday: How I Conquered My Fear of Research. Online - Thirty Tools for Writers. List of human emotions. List of feelings. Links for Writers. Index - www.fiction-writers-mentor.com. A Writer's Toolbox. Worksheets for Writers. 50 of the Best Websites for Writers.
WRITING TOOLS | WRITERS HELPING WRITERS. AdviceToWriters - Advice to Writers. Storytellers Unplugged. 10 Free E-books for Writers. Josh Vogt's Writing Resources - The Fiction Writer's Virtual Toolbox. EnhanceMyWriting.com: Indispensable Writing Resources. Writer's Block Help - Inspired Creative Writing Ideas and Techniques. Excel for Writer’s – organizing a novel with a spreadsheet | 3Rs.
Edit Your Novel In Three Steps. AAPA: Resources for Writers. EnhanceMyWriting.com: Indispensable Writing Resources. 50 Books That Will Make You a Better Writer. The Ultimate Guide to Writing Better Than You Normally Do. Using Real Psychology in Your Writing. 10 Ways To Stop Worrying And Start Writing. Internet Resources - Writers Resources - Writing Links & Writers Links for Writers - Word Stuff. The Ultimate Guide to Writing Better Than You Normally Do.
Passive and Active Voice - Writing Academy. Josh Vogt's Writing Resources - The Fiction Writer's Virtual Toolbox. Timeline of History - 20th Century at a Glance. FREE Rhyming Dictionary - Find Rhyming Words in Seconds. Wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Critique-Checklist-Tool.pdf.
Www.writingfix.com/PDFs/Writing_Tools/Same_Theme_Worksheet.pdf. Free Online Novel Writing Software - Hiveword. 10 Free E-books for Writers. Storytellers Unplugged. A 12-Day Plan of Simple Writing Exercises. Word 2007 for Writers: Part 1 - Introduction. Sister-in-laws, sisters-in-law, or sisters-in-laws?
Grammatically Speaking. Better writing - Oxford Dictionaries Online. AdviceToWriters - Advice to Writers. 100 Exquisite Adjectives. These are the grammar, usage, and style errors seen most commonly in written materials. : Quick and Dirty Tips ™ FREE Online Rhyming Dictionary. Learn Your Damn Homophones. Misktakes In Writing. Onomatopoeia Dictionary - Written Sound. Free Action Verb list for Writers. WRITING TOOLS | WRITERS HELPING WRITERS. Wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Crutch-Words-2.pdf. Long Ridge Writers Group. Welcome to Fuck Yeah Character Development. 50 of the Best Websites for Writers.
Worksheets for Writers. 60 Awesome Search Engines for Serious Writers. July Novel Writing Month. The Writer - Advice and inspiration for today's writer. Casting the Bones | Fiction Writing Tips and Tricks. The Writer's Toolbox - Tools to Help You Write. Information Center. A Writer's Toolbox. Index - www.fiction-writers-mentor.com. Writing Resources - Learning to Write - Writing Skills - Writing Tools - Writing Reviews. StoryToolz : Resources for Authors. 75 Books Every Writer Should Read.