Busting Your Writing Rut
{*style:<i>(Reprinted from Writer’s Digest) by Linda Formichelli </i>*} The business article came out great, but I was stuck for an ending. Finally, I hit upon the conclusion: “Follow these tips and boost your bottom line.” My sense of wordplay wasn’t the only thing stuck in a rut — even my article ideas were getting frayed from overuse. Not that reusing ideas is inherently bad. But what’s good for the pocketbook isn’t necessarily good for the soul. Hoping to leap out of my writer’s rut, I started checking around for advice. Two other writers and I came up with a game to rev up the idea generating process. Another way I break out of writing ruts is to check out magazines that I wouldn’t normally read. I’m a freelance writer. So one day, I surprised myself — and gave my writing a shot of adrenaline — by signing up for karate classes. Taking a break doesn’t always require a lot of free time and cash. If I let writing turn into a burdensome, repetitive task, I pay for it in stilted prose.
Quick Story Idea Generator
Stories The theme of this story: dark quest. The main characters: unbalanced hero and humble secret agent. The major event of the story: repentance. The theme of this story: light-hearted horror. The theme of this story: metaphorical adventure. The theme of this story: noir slice-of-life. The theme of this story: parody revenge. The theme of this story: serious adventure. The theme of this story: surreal romance. The theme of this story: wacky slice-of-life. The theme of this story: weird revenge. The theme of this story: weird thriller.
Writing Inspiration, or Sex on a Bicycle | CornerScribe
Writing Inspiration, or Sex on a Bicycle I don’t know about you, but I get inspired by all sorts of things, many of them downright weird. I love to listen to people talk. I overheard one of my coworkers the other day, “It’s like having sex on a bicycle. Or the quote that kept running through my head last week. Sometimes I think about the people I’ve known, the stories I tell. Or how about the coworker who married a woman he’d seen in person off and on for a week; she worked at a resort where he was staying. Or my grandmother, the mother of nine children, about twenty years from oldest to youngest. Or our family friend, who totaled her husband’s car because she was sick of his drinking. I bet you’ve got some stories that would make great stories as well.
Creative Acceleration: 11 Tips to Engineer a Productive Flow
Focus is essential to getting work done. If you can’t engineer a productive flow to your work, everything crawls to the finish. Tasks become a sluggish crawl to the finish that is both inefficient and almost painful to work through. Any writer that has felt writers block or a programmer stuck on a difficult problem can probably relate from experience. Focus is also critical for quality. One of the most popular downloads on this site is a free e-book on holistic learning. Athletes often describe it as “being in the zone” the sensation where self and time disappear and 100% concentration is devoted to the game. Getting into this state isn’t always easy. Eliminate Distractions - This may sound obvious, but it is easily forgotten. This website is supported, in part, by affiliate arrangements (usually Amazon). Debate is fine, flaming is not.
The Seven Major Beginner Mistakes
Starting anything new involves mistakes. Tons of them, if you plan on being good. Although you are supposed to learn from your mistakes, there are a few that often go ignored. These mistakes accompany the first phase of anything and it is easy to repeat them in everything new that you do. I don’t claim to be immune to these mistakes. Actually, I think it is simply because I have made these mistakes myself so frequently that I’ve begun to recognize them. Motivation is necessary to start anything new. I’ve made this mistake dozens of times before. Long-term goals are great, but it’s the next-step goals that really matter. More correctly, too much false knowledge. It isn’t a sin to say, “I don’t know.” I’m privileged enough to have a journal that has recorded my highly erroneous predictions. It’s scary to start something new. How do you know what will work? When I commented that I exercised almost daily, many people informed me that this was bad. All areas of life are interdependent.
Free Association, Active Imagination, Twilight Imaging
Category: Writing Techniques Freud used free association; Jung used what he called active imagination. Active imagination is a psychological state between everyday awareness and the dream world. It occurs naturally in circumstances like listening to stories, watching the flames in a fireplace, and listening to the sea. Progoff uses active imagination, but called it "twilight imagery". The key to Twilight Imaging lies in the fact that it takes place in the twilight state between waking and sleeping.
Random Book Title Generator
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Timothy Hallinan - Writer's Resources
Finishing Your Novel “A writer is someone who finishes.” -- Thomas Farber This section is for you if: You’ve started a novel but are having trouble finishing it, or You want to start a novel but aren’t sure you’ll be able to finish it. I’ve been writing novels (and teaching about writing novels) for twenty years, and one thing I’ve learned is how to finish. This section is about how to handle those things. Finishing a novel (or any kind of writing project) is a transformational experience. A long time ago, something funny happened to me. I thought I was a writer. And then my house burned down. So I made some notes on the book I remembered best, flew to Thailand, and wrote the whole thing in seven weeks. This area of the site is based on what I've learned since then.
Story Starters & Idea Generators
One of the best ways to break through writer's block or stretch your writing skills is to pick a story starter and just start writing. Suggestions on how to use each generator are included with the generator. Caveat: There's always a temptation to keep looking for the "perfect" idea, but then you need to ask yourself...are you really just trying to avoid writing? Problem: You can't get a story started Solution: Archetype's Plot Scenario Generator What it is: This generator provides you with the event that gets the story rolling and a secondary conflict to keep you going! Problem: Your characters lack depth Solution: Archetype's Character Generator What it is: A quick character sketch filled with the kinds of little details that makes stories engaging: character gender, cardinal traits, weaknesses, and most prized possession. Problem: Your characters don't feel like "real" people Solution: Archetype's Everyday Problems Generator Looking for something you don't see? Getting Yourself Started
