5 Tips to Setting Your Story Mood

This past weekend I attended a workshop on making video trailers for fiction books. Having spent so much of my life mixing words and video in TV news and public relations, I was intrigued. I know how to put together a news story visually and features that show a story or person, but how do you make a trailer that would show visually what a book was about?  Part of it has to do with showing the mood of the story.  That got me to thinking about how to show some of that mood inside the story itself.  Here are five tips to consider as you write your story to show location, mood, and ambience. These can all make your story stronger.


1. Consider the setting. This is self explanatory.  If you're writing a dark, gothic type story setting it in an old, dark castle or house seems natural.  But what if you're writing a dark story that is set in the tropics, or on a summer vacation?  Use that setting to make the case.  For instance, that bright tropical setting can hold lots of dark, hidden secrets in either glaring sunlight or in unusual shadows in unexpected places.  A dirty alley where the heroine gets lost as she goes home from the sun drenched beach with plenty of shadows and perhaps a scary stranger can set the mood for a darker future to come.


2. Look for just the right words to set the stage for the mood. If you're setting the story in the middle of winter, go beyond just describing the cold, make the characters feel it with chilled hands, frosty breath, numb fingers, or cold rooms.  Bring the cold even into the heart of a warm house or car, and then make the characters feel that coldness from their skin to their souls.

3.  Show contrasts. Use contrasting imagery to make the shadows darker, the light spots brighter. Take the reader from one extreme to another so that when the mood shifts, the reader's mood can shift with the story. Light moments mixed with dark can shift the mood as well.  Think about the difference of a green mountainside as compared to the charred, emptiness of a burned forest.

 4. Consider sounds. Just like with mood, light and temperature, remember the sounds that can set the mood and tone of a book.  In one of my stories I'm trying to catch the feel of a summer morning. Out of nowhere I suddenly heard a video my sister made at sunrise while walking the Colorado plains. She was trying to capture the morning sunrise and did video as opposed to still shots, but when I heard the birds as the sun topped the edge of the horizon, I had what I was looking for. Describing what I heard in that video helped me craft that early morning scene.

5.  Don't be afraid to experiment.  Play with the scene and try writing it in several different ways and then see what makes it most effective. Do you write it in first person? Does it work better from a certain character's point of view? Does it make it better if you describe the scene or if you let the character give their own impression?


All these methods can work and can help you capture the setting which in turn will make each story unique.  Good luck!

5 Tips for Writing through the Holidays

We all run into it -- the busy, busy period between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day.  How can you find time for writing during those hours when the days grow shorter and the "to do" lists grow longer? That doesn't include those couple of weeks when relatives are coming to visit or the kids are out of school.  How can you find time to devote to yourself, let alone your writing or writing projects.

Here are five tips to survive the Holidays and still come out ahead once you've drunk your last drop of eggnog or champagne and eaten that last cookie or piece of holiday candy.

1. Schedule at least half an hour of the day for some writing time.  I don't normally schedule when I am going to write. I like to let the muse strike me, but sometimes if people are in from out of town or if the kids are around for days on end, you need to schedule some time away from everything and for yourself. Scheduling first thing in the morning or getting up before everyone is up can work. I always do that when visiting. I get up early and get in a little time for writing.

2.  Work on editing yesterday's material or your NaNoWriMo book when you're waiting. How many times do we have to sit and wait while presents are wrapped or when meeting someone for dinner and they're late. If you save your work to your phone or ipad you can keep it with you and look over your writing and make notes on what needs fixing.  I keep a little notebook handy in my purse at all times for making notes or even writing while waiting.

3. Don't try to work on something new -- finish up an old project. This can be the editing on that November novel you wrote, or it can be something you want to have done to submit in the new year. If it's already edited, put it in your phone and again, read it when you have a few moments to see how it will look and feel for readers when they buy it for their kindles and e-readers.

4.  Try outlining a new project to get started in the new year.  If you're almost finished with this year's work, it's a good time to look forward and start thinking about what you want to start writing come January 1st.

5.  Get some inspiration from the craziness around you.  Holiday shopping is a great time for watching people and situations.  I'm a constant eavesdropper so if I hear a mother correcting her kid in the booth next to me at a restaurant, I'm not above writing down her better lines. Listen and learn from the relatives who come to visit. Pick the brains of those who might have a special knowledge of what you're writing or want to write next. Or look over the crazy relatives and think of how you might place them in a story!

Lots of writing fodder out there during the holidays. Keep your writing eyes and ears open and look for ideas to use in the new year.

5 Tips to Making it Through NaNoWriMo

We're halfway through the month and that means we should be half way through our National Novel Writing Month total or written 25,000 words.  I don't know about the rest of the people taking part in this challenge, but this year I have fallen behind in my count.  I got off to a good start and then attended a retreat that helped get me rejuvenated.  You'd think I'd be farther along.  One of my writing buddies is not only at the halfway mark, she has written 27,000 words.

Now as I turn the corner and begin on the second half of the month I find I need some new inspiration. So what do I suggest now for those others like me who have slowed down to new lows?
Here are 5 tips to get going again or to recommit yourself to finishing and achieving  your goal.

1. Write first thing in the morning.  For the thirty years I was working full time (usually 10-hour days) I always got up and began writing in the morning. Yes, I know some people move slowly at 6am, so I sometimes started with a quick walk. It helped to get my story ideas percolating so that by the time I got back to my desk I was ready to work on the next scene.

2. Start everyday by re-reading copy from the previous day. I know I've suggested that tip before as a way to get started every day with your writing. It can get you quickly back into the scene or if you don't feel like writing, just re-reading what you wrote before might make you want to try a new direction if you think you're going the wrong way.  Actually whenever I don't feel like writing I sit down with my story and take some time just to re-read it. That helps transport me back into that story world.

3.  Start slowly with a writing sprint.  Tell yourself you're only going to write for 15 or 20 minutes -- maybe even 30. Then set a clock so that you know you'll have a reason to stop at that time.  I keep a kitchen timer on my desk so I can do writing sprints anytime I feel like it. I find that knowing I'm only going to write for 15 or 20 minutes can make the writing go faster because I know I can quit at the end. Usually, though, when the timer goes off, I just keep on going.

4.  Go back and check out your character profiles. By now you should be almost half way through the book. Are you ignoring some of the traits you had given to your characters? Are they coming across as the people you wanted them to be?  This isn't the time to go back and reread everything to see if you're heading in the right direction--that can wait until editing, but you should have an idea in your head if you've left things out. Look at including a couple of scenes to fix those problems.

5. Write the ending.  This is one thing I also recommend if  you get stuck halfway through the book. You know how you want it to end, right?  By writing that ending you can start pointing in that direction as you move through the next pages of your book. This is the time to start moving toward that ending. If you are writing a romance, check your conflict to see that it is strong enough to hold you to the end. If you're writing mystery, have you planted enough clues or red herrings to start making some moves toward the bad guy? If you're writing fantasy or science fiction, have  you started pointing at the final battle or discovery that will get the hero and heroine where they need to be for the ending?

One other thing to try might be to take a break for a day or two.  I did that at the end of last week, and while it made me panic this morning when I sat down at the computer I also felt rejuvenated. I was more than ready to get back into my story again and start working.

Now the real trick is to just sit yourself down and start writing. Think of it this way. You're half way through. It's all downhill from here!

5 Tips to Re-energizing Your Writing

It happens to all of us. We've been working long, hard hours with our writing and we think we'll step back for a few days and take some time off.  And then that "few days" becomes a week, and then a few weeks.  Or we come back to work and find we can't sit still for long. Pretty soon the work that began last week actually began two weeks ago or a month ago, and that goal to finish grows farther and farther away.  We all need some down time, but then how do we get re-energized to get back to work. I don't know how many times I've heard writers say they just can't seem to get re-motivated once they've taken a break. When that happens to me I sometimes have to force myself to get going again.


1. Re-read Your Last Pages -- This is always a good way to get back on the ball and get excited about your story again. Look for problem areas that might have been slowing the story down that made the work seem like such a drudge in the first place.  Some writers will re-read their work every day, and that can also be a good way to keep going.
2.  Try Writing Some Place Else -- Sometimes your desk is the problem. Maybe it's a mess or maybe you just need a change in scenery.  Try to work at a coffee shop or if you don't like all that noise, there is always the library where you can have peace and quiet.
3. Try Doing Research --  This can be good if you know you need a break but you also have information you know you need for the story. Yes, you can get the information online, but get out of the house. Instead of reading about the 19th century, visit a museum where you can see actual articles or clothing from the period.  One caveat here -- don't get so wound up in your research it becomes another excuse for not writing.
4.  Try a New Time to Write -- Last weekend I had a reader ask me when my best time for writing was. It has been in the early morning for years, but that was when I had a daily job to get to. I would write from 6 to 8 and then get ready for work. While I still often write early in the morning, I also have found that late in the afternoon is a good time for me to write too, so sometimes I let my writing go until then.
5. Try a Retreat -- Getting away from it all to write can be a real blessing. It is a great way to get a story going, to get a story plotted or to totally  immerse yourself in your story world. I've done personal retreats where I've locked myself in a hotel room and worked to finish a story, or just gone away for a weekend and written. I've also gone to writers' retreats and I heartily recommend them. Next month I will be going to one in Denver -- Danica Favorite's "Nourishing the Writer's Spirit Retreat" and I'm really looking forward to the experience.  It's a chance to talk to other writers and work on my story as well as get come creative ideas.  If you'd like more information, please visit: http://danicafavorite.com/retreat .
There is still time to sign up! Good luck with getting re-energized!

5 Tips to Writing Villains

Almost any story you write needs a bad guy or woman, someone to be defeated or whose deeds have thwarted the hero and heroine.  Sometimes they can be a machine, an alien race from another planet, a deadly bunch of vampires or a whole slew of zombies.


But more often than not, your protagonists are taking on one dastardly dude or some underhanded woman. How can you make them come alive without meeting all the clichés.

Try some of these ideas and you might find yourself coming up with new villains.

1. Use your hero/heroine goals to build a villain – This is rather simple. What does your hero want? A new job? To learn who killed the boss because he is being suspected?  If you use those goals, the villain will be diametrically at the opposite end of the spectrum. This is the person who is keeping your hero or heroine from getting what you want. That is what happens in most stories, but take it one step further. Make it personal as well. Bring that villain to life with his/her own backstory which shows why they might be battling the hero and why they want to keep the hero from attaining his goal. Hannibal Lector was an overall bad guy as a cannibal, but he zeroed in on Clarice Starling and Will Graham. He made his battle personal with both of them.
2. Try the 7 Deadly Sins to create their bad traits – This is a good way to create a villain. Give your villain the sin of greed, pride, wrath or even gluttony to make him want to come down on your poor hapless heroes and heroines.
3. Make villains loveable, sympathetic or redeemable – this can be a fun way to write a villain. Not everyone needs to be killed off and vanquished. Sometimes it is more fun to simply put the villain in his place or put a mirror to him and show him for who and what he is. This can be a real lesson for him. Or defeat him and make him wish he hadn’t been so bad. As for the sympathetic villain, I always find the Phantom of the Opera as someone who is very sympathetic. He is hideous and that has made it impossible for anyone to love him. Doesn’t it make it more understandable that he might go to any lengths to get his true love, Christine?
4. Make your villains memorable – We all want our heroes and heroines to be remembered by the reader, but what about the villain?  If we are going to make our heroes strong, then the villains should be too.  Anyone can overcome a normal bad guy.  If you want to make your heroes come off as invincible, given them a worthy opponent to defeat and that should be the starting point for your villain. Make them so strong the reader doubts whether your heroine will beat him or her.
5.  Keep future stories in mind – do you want your villain to survive and come back to fight another day?  Find clever ways or reasons for why the villain might survive this time around.  But if you choose to do that, let the hero or heroine still solve some sort of issue in this story. You don’t want to leave the reader hanging. Something must be resolved.
    
   But mostly when writing a villain, have a good time with them. You can make them as mean and dastardly, or cowardly as you want. Remember you get to destroy them at the end so make it an exercise that stretches you as a writer.

5 Tips on Blogging

One of the promotional tools writers have been told to use as a way of getting their word out about their stories is blogging.  It can be both fun, but also time consuming. And coming up with ideas for blogs every week can become an issue.  What is there to blog about that can be helpful to your fiction writing?

1.      Blog about your research – This is a no brainer.  I always find items that I look up that I might not use in my story that might make a good blog. For instance, my research on ghostly legends of the southwest took me back to my childhood and hearing my mother tell me of the story of La Llorona, an infamous story of a ghostly woman who haunts the waterways and rivers in the southwest, looking for her lost children. It was an old legend that Hispanic parents told their children to keep them from going out at night. I used it for several blogs around Halloween.

2.      Blog about places you visit – this too was part of research on one of my stories. I spent a weekend travelling by train across the Rocky Mountains and was able to use it as the basis for a blog about train travel. But it can be a fun car trip you make, or even a visit to the local museum. One of the places I also blogged about was a visit to the historic Brown Palace in Denver.

3.      Blog about simple, every day things – one of my friends, Darla Bartos, who has written a wonderful mystery set in South Africa, has a great way of coming up with blog ideas. She writes about many every day events, ideas that just hits her and how they affect her writing. She did a great blog on hitting all the stop lights and how that encouraged her writing progress.

4.      Blog about classes you might be taking – I have often blogged about the conferences I attend and about the workshops I’ve attended. One of the reasons I like to blog about them is that it encourages me to take better notes at the conference, and it also serves as a way of reinforcing what I learn. It also is a good way to force me to get those notes transcribed when I get home.  Then I can keep them in a file on my computer and available should I ever need them again.

5.      Review a book on your blog – I’ve done author profiles on My Writing Corner blog and have sometimes offered up reviews, but this is another way to get in some interesting writing and also can give you some help with your own writing. 

I am going to try reviewing writing books on this blog. I have dozens of writing books and recently someone asked me what my favorite books on writing were and which I always keep handy.  Starting next week, I will give a list of some of those books and then I will begin to review some of the ones that have been so helpful to me.

5 Tips to Increasing Writing Output

On Saturday I attended a workshop on increasing artistic creativity, and it spurred some wonderful creative thinking on my part. We were told that writers should work on developing the more visually artistic side of their brains to increase output on the writing side. That got me to thinking, not just of ways to increase that visual side, and I will be working on that, and writing about it once I try it, but it also made me think of other ways to increase your fiction writing output overall and how sometimes just plain writing can help us over dry spots or when we think we're plagued by writer's block.

For instance:

1.      Try journal writing.  Many writers started using and demonstrating their writing skills by keeping diaries or journals when they were young. Do you still keep a journal?  I don’t, but I have plenty of them when I was young. However, off and on I find that it just feels good to sit down and write down thoughts or ideas that only I will ever see. It is often good to go back and look at those writings later because they can give you more perspective on who you are now and how you might have coped with a problem in the past, some little thing that you might have forgotten. The best thing about writing a journal is that you can do it in any form, type it, write in long hand, and say anything since you are the only one who will read it.

2.      Try writing a non-fiction story.  I saw on facebook recently that a published fiction author friend was going to write a non fiction story about a well known historical figure.  Her ideas was to learn all about that person and write an article about the person. Eventually she would then write and publish a fiction book based on that person. I thought that was a great idea. Writing non fiction is a wonderful way to spur thinking creatively. I know that when I was writing news stories every day, I was always thinking about my writing. It was my job, I had to do it, and that carried over into my fiction work.

3.      Write a blog.  This sort of combines those first two ideas. Write a non-fiction story and a journal entry all in one – and do it in a blog form. I have heard some fiction writers say this blogs can be a waste of time because it takes time away from fiction. But just like I said before about non-fiction can stimulate fiction writing, the same is true of blogs. And when you wonder what you want to write about, well, go back to that historical figure and look at yourself. You have lots of experiences and ideas you can write about.

4.      Write an article for a local paper. Small neighborhood newspapers are always looking for content and you could either volunteer to write a weekly column or do a story and submit it. How can this help? Well, besides giving you a chance to write about something other than your thoughts, it can also spur new story ideas for future books. You might meet someone fascinating that you want to base a character on, or you might find a profession you want to use for a story.  And again, this doesn’t need to be a wasted effort. Write a story on that police detective you interviewed as research for your story. How about a story on glass sculpting or owning a business? Again, this might be something you did as research, but find out more about the person behind your research. Several years ago when I was working as a public information officer for a city, one of my jobs was putting out the monthly newsletter. Instead of just doing stories on whatever project the city manager wanted me to feature, I started visiting all the city departments and doing feature stories on the people there and on their jobs. It livened up the newsletter and it also had some of those city employees appreciating their jobs more. I remember visiting the public yard where they had they city signs and fixed the police cars and everyone was excited to talk. They’d never had a representative from the city manager’s office come to visit them, much less give them space in the city newsletter.  It was great fun!

5.      Write what you see!  Even if it isn’t a journal of your thoughts, or an interview or a visit

to some special place, think about writing something descriptive. Look around wherever you normally write and try writing a description of your work area. Write about the sights and sounds of the coffee shop where you’re working. Look around the restaurant where you're dining and get the picture in your head and go home and write about. Again, this may be work you don’t ever put out anywhere, but it can help you next time you go to write a setting. If you can describe what you’re seeing around you, you will have a better handle on writing descriptions for your book of the picture in your head.

So just write!  In any form. Keep it as long or short as you want. But you might find that once you’ve warmed up with those other words, you’re more than ready to dig back into your book.