Where to Find Ideas for Writing a Story Ideas for writing a story It always seem like there are too many writing ideas or not enough. When you don’t have time to write, ideas come hurtling out of nowhere. Sometimes, they come so fast, you can’t even write them all down. Then, when you sit down, stretch your fingers, and lean over your keyboard to start typing, nothing happens. Chances are, you’re not really out of ideas; you’re just not in the mood to write. Luckily, ideas for writing a story are all around you. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. What kind of stories do you write? About Melissa DonovanMelissa Donovan is a website designer and copywriter. Things Writers Should Know Previous iterations of the “25 Things” series: 25 Things Every Writer Should Know 25 Things You Should Know About Storytelling And now… Here you’ll find the many things I believe — at this moment! 1. Without character, you have nothing. 2. A great character can be the line between narrative life and story death. 3. Don’t believe that all those other aspects are separate from the character. 4. The audience will do anything to spend time with a great character. 5. It is critical to know what a character wants from the start. 6. It doesn’t matter if we “like” your character, or in the parlance of junior high whether we even “like-like” your character. 7. It is critical to smack the audience in the crotchal region with an undeniable reason to give a fuck. 8. You must prove this thesis: “This character is worth the audience’s time.” 9. Don’t let the character be a dingleberry stuck to the ass of a toad as he floats downriver on a bumpy log. 10. 11. 12. 13. The law of threes. 15. 16. 17. 18.
Guest Post: How I Went From Writing 2,000 Words a Day to 10,000 Words a Day by Rachel Aaron When I started writing The Spirit War (Eli novel #4), I had a bit of a problem. I had a brand new baby and my life (like every new mother’s life) was constantly on the verge of shambles. I paid for a sitter four times a week so I could get some writing time, and I guarded these hours like a mama bear guards her cubs – with ferocity and hiker-mauling violence. But (of course), things didn’t work out like that. Needless to say, I felt like a failure. So, once and for all, here’s the story of how I went from writing 500 words an hour to over 1500, and (hopefully) how you can too: A quick note: There are many fine, successful writers out there who equate writing quickly with being a hack. Drastically increasing your words per day is actually pretty easy, all it takes is a shift in perspective and the ability to be honest with yourself (which is the hardest part). Update! Side 1: Knowledge, or Know What You’re Writing Before You Write It As soon as I realized this, I stopped.
20 Common Grammar Mistakes I’ve edited a monthly magazine for more than six years, and it’s a job that’s come with more frustration than reward. If there’s one thing I am grateful for — and it sure isn’t the pay — it’s that my work has allowed endless time to hone my craft to Louis Skolnick levels of grammar geekery. As someone who slings red ink for a living, let me tell you: grammar is an ultra-micro component in the larger picture; it lies somewhere in the final steps of the editing trail; and as such it’s an overrated quasi-irrelevancy in the creative process, perpetuated into importance primarily by bitter nerds who accumulate tweed jackets and crippling inferiority complexes. But experience has also taught me that readers, for better or worse, will approach your work with a jaundiced eye and an itch to judge. While your grammar shouldn’t be a reflection of your creative powers or writing abilities, let’s face it — it usually is. Who and Whom This one opens a big can of worms. Which and That Lay and Lie Moot Nor
How to Improve Your Writing Are you ready to improve your writing? It’s not possible to improve your writing overnight, unless you hire an expert to do it for you. People study the craft for years, decades even, and still they strive to make each piece of writing better than the last. Sure, there might be some quick tricks and shortcuts you can pick up and apply immediately, but these only improve your writing in small increments. If you want to become a good writer (let alone a great writer), be prepared to make a long-term commitment to the craft. It might take time and energy to improve your writing, but it’s actually not that hard, especially if you love what you do. Be professional. Do you try to improve your writing on a regular basis? About Melissa DonovanMelissa Donovan is a website designer and copywriter.
23 Fiction Writing Ideas That Will Revitalize Your Story Refresh your story with these fiction writing ideas. Sometimes, our fiction writing projects dry up. The characters turn out to be flat, the plot becomes formulaic, and the story suddenly seems lackluster. This is when a lot of writers give up and file their half-finished manuscripts into a bottom drawer never to be seen again. What a waste of time and energy. But before giving up on a project, why not try to resurrect it? Fiction Writing Ideas Today’s writing ideas will help you enhance stories that are suffering from a variety of maladies ranging from boring plots to unrealistic characters. Give your characters more than a goal. Got Any Fiction Writing Ideas? Got any tips or ideas to add? About Melissa DonovanMelissa Donovan is a website designer and copywriter.
10 Practices for Maintaining a Constant Stream of Writing Ideas Fresh writing ideas are always at your fingertips. Sometimes, we are overwhelmed with writing ideas. We work on multiple projects simultaneously and are constantly bombarded with new ideas that we’ll never have time to fully explore, let alone turn into active projects. Ideas and inspiration remain a mystery. Most of us cannot summon new writing ideas on command, and we’ve all experienced the random arrival of a magnificent idea, which often comes at an inopportune time, like when we’re driving, showering, or otherwise engaged. If you’ve ever struggled to find inspiration, you know how frustrating it can be when you want to write but the words, the ideas, just won’t come. Adopt a few of these practices to keep your imagination active and to keep your pen moving: Make time for creativity every day. Do you have too many writing ideas or not enough? About Melissa DonovanMelissa Donovan is a website designer and copywriter.
5 Ways To Get Your First Draft Material Out Of Your Head And Onto The Page It’s National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), and I’m working on a new book in a new series which is all very exciting! This month, thousands of people will write 50,000 words, but these will not be fully formed books, for this is an outpouring of first draft creative material and that is a hugely important distinction. First draft material is allowed to be crap, and often is and it’s meant to be so. So don’t worry! A perfect sentence does not appear fully formed on the page, and it is not followed by another one, and another, to create a perfect story in one go. “Writing is rewriting,” as the great Michael Crichton said. So how do you get your first draft material from your head onto the page? (1) Set a word count goal This is why NaNoWriMo works so well for people, as you have to write around 1700 words per day in order to ‘win’. If you don’t have some kind of goal, you won’t achieve anything. For a full length novel, say 80,000 words @2000 words per day = 40 days of consistent writing