5 Tips for Beginning Writers

As someone who has been writing novels, short stories and non-fiction for years, I am often asked how to get started or what it takes to write a book. I wish there was an easy answer. Unfortunately the answer is to write, write, and write some more. And then keep writing. But where do you start? Actually the answer to that is to you can start with your story in a variety of different ways. Here are five different things you can do to start working on your story.

1. Start with a simple idea.  This is often where beginners start. They want to write a book about their uncle who was a cowboy, or they have an idea that revolves around an event. But you need more than idea, you will need to think about where you're going with that idea. What will happen to that cowboy or what happens at that summer picnic that is interesting?

2. Come up with characters. NO story is going to be read if it doesn't have characters that grab and hold the reader. Cardboard people are not going to hold anyone's interest.  Write up a character sketch or use a character profile that will allow you to show that character and who she or he is over the course of your plot.

3. Provide a problem for that character. That is where you begin to develop your plot. Do you want your character to solve a murder, take part in a caper, fall in love? What do you want your character to do and from there you can start to work on the plot of your story.

4. Don't forget to add dialogue.  Your characters need to speak.  Just telling the story is not going to be interesting. You need to make certain you are including dialogue in your scenes or you are just telling the story. We want you to show your story, not tell it, and dialogue shows what is happening.

5. Make a plot list so that you see the scenes you have in your story. You need an opening and that can have several scenes, but what happens?  Building a plot list can help you keep your story organized. Now if you don't know where to go after the opening scene, think about what you want your ending to be. Where do you want your characters to end up? Write that down as your last plot point and then start filling in the middle. What else do you know should happen? Keep listing those things until you have a semblance of a plot. You can always change as you go along.


And once you have decided to write a story, then get busy. Start getting scenes, character sketches, ideas down on the written page.  Go back to that original premise. If you want to write a story, you have to WRITE, WRITE, WRITE!

5 Tips for Writing Atmosphere

 

This weekend I got a wake-up call that is already providing excellent help for the story I am currently editing.  It came in a workshop about writing short stories.  The instructor talked about bringing the setting to life through atmosphere.  I’ve often worked at finding different ways to express setting, to bring it alive for the reader. I use “ambience” as my guide for bringing it life. How does it feel or smell to the reader? What about noise?  That was the thought he put into making it come alive as “atmosphere.”  So how does that work? Here are five tips for providing atmosphere for your readers.

1. Consider the characters and Point of View. One thing that really hit me as he talked about atmosphere was the different way each character might look at a setting. I remember my thrill the first time I visited New York and the urgency of the city.  I wanted to drink it all in. On the other hand, the first time I took my father to New York, that sense of urgency became a feeling of anxiety. Too much going on—things moving too fast. He was a man of the country and he wanted out of those canyons of tall buildings.  He preferred the feel of the open landscape. 
   
2.  Remember the seasons. A cold winter day in New York was very different than when I visited in spring or the heat of summer. The ambience in the cold was a much different feel, not just in temperature, but in the flow of the city, not to mention the variety of smell and increase in exhaust fume. Again that change in sensations is the atmosphere you want to get across.
   
   
   
3. Don’t forget to feed on all your sensations. To me sound can be just as important as the sights or smells.  The quiet of a summer afternoon on a Colorado prairie is going to be very different than the constant sound of ambulances or police sirens in downtown Denver.

4. Try to see it through your character’s eyes. I mentioned earlier about writing in different Points of View, but remember that a character’s overall view of life will be very different.  Again, going back to my dad – on another trip--this time to the Northwest. He surprised me as we reached the yellowing grass of New Mexico and its wide open plains. We had just driven across country from lush grassy hillsides in Oregon and Washington. But he was happy to see those wide open plains.  He confessed that he had felt claustrophobic in the middle of all those tall, close-in trees. 


5.  Soak in all the sensations and get them into your story. To my dad, that was the other thing about being back close to home. He could smell the grass, he said, and he hadn’t felt that when we were back east where the scents were to him very foreign, whether from cars or even to the damp scent of the forest. He was ready for a quiet evening, looking over the plains and feeling the warm, dry evening breeze.


Characters from different backgrounds will see your story atmosphere and setting differently and that’s one thing you need to remember and bring to life as a writer.    

 

 

 

5 Tips for Fighting Writer's Block

 It happens to all of us who are writers.  Sooner or later we hit the wall with our writing and we suffer through that old , well-known, feared syndrome called “writer’s block.”  We fear it, we try to hide from it, we fight it, but more often we give in to it.

So what do you do when it hits you?  Do you fight it? Do you give in to it? Lots of people say they know when it hits them and they try to shrug it off and get back to their writing.  For others those blank, empty days of staring at the computer screen or playing games or just ignoring the latest work can start to pile up until they fear they will never write again.

When writer’s block visits me, I try not to give in, but with each passing day I don’t write I find the fear that I’ll never write again. That in itself can drive me back to the keyboard to prove that I can still tell a story, whether it’s a fiction work, or just a blog on not being able to write.

Here are some ideas for coping with writer’s block:

1. Write something – anything – this is something I usually try first. If I find myself unable to face my characters and my latest stories, then I do work on a blog or try writing a lecture for one of my writing classes.  Sometimes by doing that I find new inspiration for the fiction story I am working on. Often when teaching a writing class I find that reading over what some of those other students are doing makes me want to work on my own writing. 


2. Look over old stories – this is always a good way to get something finished. By reading an old story that I started several months ago, I find myself with new ideas that I hadn’t thought of before – maybe even something that had given me writer’s block and stopped me back when I was working on this story. If there is something that was stopping me in my current story, I can just set it aside and work on those old things and maybe get something done. Usually finishing a work will propel into the next book or story.
3. Get away from your desk – a change of scenery can be like a breath of fresh air so try writing in some other location. Sometimes just sitting at your desk every day can seem like drudge work. I am a big fan of going to a restaurant or coffee shop with a note book and writing long hand for a while. Then when I go back to my computer and transcribe the pages it spurs me on. Of course I have also been known to take my computer to a library or coffee shop to write. Sometimes the change in scenery and just getting away from the house can spur creativity. 


4. Try a plotting brainstorming session – I love to do this with friends or a writing group. We will sit and toss story ideas around and I either jot them down or put them into the notes feature of my iphone. That way I have the ideas to refer back to later. I use this especially if I run into a knotty plotting problem that needs extra help. People love to play with story ideas when they don’t have anything invested other than offering their opinion.


5. Have a dialogue with characters – sometimes I realize that my characters are either not fully formed or I don’t know them as well as I thought I did so they are refusing to take those next plot steps. That can lead to a dead stop to the plot. I just can get that next scene written. Often a little conversation with those characters can pull out a new idea or make  me realize just what is ailing that character. Then after a while I find myself getting back on track.
    
   Sometimes it just takes getting away from things for a while. I will put something down and let it sit. Sooner or later those characters will start yelling and I’ll have to come back and finish their stories.  I’m never sure what stops me from writing, but I know any or all of these things can pull me back. Sooner or later that will lead to THE END getting written!

5 Tips to Creating Characters

Let's focus on Characters!  I absolutely love to create new characters. Creating them from scratch can seem like a daunting prospect, but you don't need to do all the work. Look around! Use what you know and who you know. This is your chance as a writer to make that boyfriend with the small irritations into a perfect man ready for love. Or you can make that awful boss over into the total idiot you think she is and next she is the one who gets killed or fired. All you have to do is exaggerate some of those terrible faults or correct the bad ones. 


Okay, that sounds like such a delightful exercise, but there are other things to consider as you go about making up new characters.  You want them to be lifelike, but what could be easier than looking around you.  Here are five tips for creating characters.


1. Use what or who you know. This is where that boyfriend or boss comes in.  Look at the people around you and by taking their worst or best attributes you can begin to frame a real person. I've never used my mother as a person in a book, but I have used some of her phrases in more than one and I often look to her personality as a basis for characters. I have often thought of her determination and gumption when it comes to creating a strong woman. She was all of 4'11, but when she got something into her mind to make happen, she was going to get it done.


2. Look beyond the obvious.  Don't think that because you show a character one way they can't learn or develop in another.  Again I return to my mother. She was quick to tears so people often underestimated her because of her size and her emotions. They thought she was frail and weak. But like I said, when she made up her mind, she could become an 8 foot wave of power. I use those traits in some of the women in my books.


3. Search for characters wherever you go.  I always try to be aware of my surroundings wherever I am and whatever I am doing, studying everything from people in the crowds to the temperature in summer and winter to the smell of different locations.  Engaging the senses helps me not only bring setting and feeling into a story, but it also helps me as I develop characters. Meeting someone new, I might be aware of their soft voice or their firm handshake. What are they wearing? What about a strange little habit that they might not be aware of, like tapping a finger or whistling under their breath.  Those can all be taken and given to characters somewhere and sometime.


4. Make up characters from people you know.  I am always thinking of new ways to use the people I know in a book, again taking some of those small traits and making them larger than life or taking a trait (like stubbornness) and giving it to a character. In a book I can change that stubborn person to realize how wrong their behavior is. (something I might not be able to teach a person I know)


5. Use your childhood heroes.  As a child in a small town I didn't get to meet people who were larger than life. I often had to make up my own heroes and heroines.  Didn't we all play make believe as children and make up people around us? We can still use some of those made up villains and heroes today as writers. Recently while I was working on a book, I remembered one of the first heroines I ever created as an imaginary friend. I welcomed her back into my life in a book.  I won't say when and where she's appearing, but she's there.


The final tip I would give is to always keep looking.  Every time you meet a new person you might be meeting the next hero or heroine in a story. And if you don't like them, you can always make them always turn them into a villain!  


Need some help with building the characters for your next book?  I'll be teaching a class starting next week at Savvy Authors:  savvyauthors.com or you can also look for my new book on characters available at Amazon.

  

5 Tips for Revising

No matter how much you love writing creatively sooner or later you are going to have to put in some time revising or editing your work.  Sitting down at the keyboard or with pad and pen can be so freeing if you just let go and write.  But you can't get something published if you don't go back and do some editing.


That can get downright boring!


I don't know how many times I've heard people say how much they love the writing part but how much they hate to edit.  Writing sets them free. Editing makes them work.  So how can we make it work better for us?  Here are some suggestions:

1. Start at the end.  That may sound self defeating. After all we probably wrote that last. Why should we want to go back and work on what we just finished? Well, how did you feel when you finished? Relieved? Happy? Ready to go celebrate?  Are you sure you did the best possible job or were you just on a roll and wanted to get it done. By going back and editing it (and you can re-edit again later) you will do two things. You will remind yourself of any little thing that you might need to fix during the book so that the ending makes sense and you can see it this time from a non-judgmental viewpoint. Look to make certain the ending is just what you want it to be.

2. Go back over notes on things you might have made during your writing. Make certain that you have those big things written down that you knew you will have to watch for and fix. Were there any things that you kept saying during the writing that you needed to fix later? Write those down now before you begin to edit.


3. Write down the things that you know are your crutches.  You know those words that you find yourself using over and over again? Write them down now before you tackle your revisions so that you can watch for them. Sometimes I use "just" too much so I always make certain I am ready to look for that as I revise.  Write down any of your pet phrases so you can watch for them. You might even put in a search and go through the manuscript looking for them first, before you start to edit.


4. Give yourself a reasonable working goal. Don't think you are going to do it all at once. Maybe go back and edit a chapter or two that you knew was a problem chapter and try re-writing that before you tackle the entire manuscript. Sometimes working on little bits and pieces can be a lot easier than having the whole thing to deal with later.


5. Now start at the beginning! Go through a chapter at a time and then go through it again before you move on. Look over your notes from before and make any new notes that you might want to look for in later chapters.


Before you begin that final edit, one final thing -- let the manuscript sit for at least a couple of weeks. Sometimes waiting for a while can give you a whole new perspective when you make that final edit.

5 Tips for Starting out Fresh

Every year I promise myself that I will write more this year. I am not certain if I do write more, but I know that one way or another I will be starting new projects and finishing old ones before the year is out. I will not stop and that is half the battle.

So how do we get started with fresh material and fresh ideas to start out the new year?   Well, here are some easy ideas that can help with your writing. Take a class, try a new hobby, take a trip. Look for something new to start on. Let’s examine some of those tips for getting that fresh start for 2017:

1. Look for something new to do. One thing that has caught my interest as the year closed on 2016 was writing science fiction. Oh, I’ve had the idea in the past, but this year I am going to try it. Why not? Look around at the genre you are working in. Is it growing a little stale? Have you been considering another one? Why not try it now in the new year? Play with a short story if you can’t commit to something long. Or if you haven’t written a short story in a while, do that instead of a longer tale.
2. Take a class.  I always recommend classes when people are stuck with their writing. A different perspective on your work and a different way to look at an old topic can get the creative juices flowing again. I am always on the look out for new classes to take or something new to learn. Keeping my mind active is a good way to keep young. I am not taking a class this month, but I am teaching one on plotting and I’ve already come up with some new ideas from the students who will be in my class.  
3. Take a trip.  I spent more time travelling last year than I had in the past. I never go far (well, I did go to Canada) but even short trips can be fun and exciting. In several weeks I’ll be boarding the train for a trip through the mountains in winter. I haven’t done that before and I’m really looking forward to it. The trip will not only give me beautiful views of the Colorado’s snow covered peaks in winter, but I bet I’ll meet some fun people to talk to. I always seem to find some great story ideas on the train.
4. Try a new method of researching.  One story I began working on last year required historical research and I found myself so involved in it that this past weekend I started off the new year at the library with an in depth look at the research department. I already came away with some new leads (and some new research books) that will help me get that story finished.
5. Try a new approach.  I usually write down my accomplishments from last year and set goals for the new year. This time around I am going to look at different methods of getting my writing output increased.
    
   So look around you. What do you need to do to get more done in the new year? A new schedule, a new way of editing--what didn’t you do last year? Are there things you wanted to do that you put off?  I’ve declared 2017 as the year of finishing things. And that’ just what I hope I’ll be applauding at the end of the year.

5 Tips -- NaNoWriMo Is Over -- Now What?

National Novel Writing Month -- November is over and I can happily say that I was one of the thousands across the country who participated and made my 50-thousand word goal. That was one of the reasons I took the month off from this weekly blog. Now I am ready to dig in and really finish off the project so that it can be sent off to an editor or publisher.

So what steps should you take now that you have finished your NaNoWriMo project? Well, first, even if you didn't finish it, don't despair.  Think of all the words you did get written last month and hopefully you were able to establish some writing habits that will stay with you--things like writing sprints or even write-ins.  I attended several and though I barely said two words to people at some of them, in others I would chat with others taking a break and we talked about our stories. No matter what, it always energized me.


So now what do you do?


1. Let the novel sit--for a few days. It has been almost a week since the ending of NaNoWriMo, so I always suggest that people walk away from the work and take a break if they have been extensively writing. That can re-energize you.


2. Fix things you absolutely need to fix.  There are times not  to let it sit. If you wrote something at the end that changed an event or character earlier in the book and the thought is driving you crazy, then by all means don't wait for a week or a month. Go back in and fix them immediately or write a new scene so that you can appreciate the break when you take it.


3. Re-visit easy problems. Again, if you can't let it go, then go back through your notes and look at some of the places you know need fixing and work on them before you forget. Fix the little things so that when you come back for a full edit you have some of the work done.


4. Look over your notes. You don't need to work on everything right away, but you might go back through any notes you made as you were writing the book or during NaNoWriMo and start thinking about how you will fix them during editing. Consider how to fix plot holes that you dug yourself into with your quick writing during November.


5. Enjoy your success. Celebrate what you have done and give yourself credit for all the writing you did during November. Even if you didn't make the 50-thousand word goal, celebrate the words you did get written. The month undoubtedly produced more than you would have written if you didn't participate.


Then, after a few days or even weeks of rest get ready to start the editing. We'll have more on that and on finishing up the writing year as we move closer to 2017--a whole new year!