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.

Fighting Writer's Block with your Characters

by Becky Martinez

Last Saturday at the Colorado Romance Writers tea for Readers a reader asked the writers at our table about writer’s block and it got me to thinking.

How do you handle writer’s block?  Don’t we all feel like we suffer from it every so often? I don’t know about writer’s block, but I feel like there is something stubborn inside me every so often that holds me back from sitting down at the keyboard and keeps me from writing.

Often attending an event like the reader’s tea helps. Spending time with other writers or listening to what readers like about books is enough to give me lots of ideas or get the creative juices flowing.

At CRW TEA

But other times, my muse can be stubborn. How do I know when that’s a problem? Easy, I find myself doing things like cleaning up my office area or, heaven forbid, running the vacuum every room in the house. If I get to deep cleaning the kitchen, I know I’m in trouble. Time to put down the dust cloth and dish rag and head for my computer.

Usually though, it is easy to do that. For the past thirty years I’ve been sitting down at my computer first thing in the morning and that was even before it had an internet connection. I really enjoyed the idea of a being able to write early in the morning without having the neighbors in my apartment building hearing me at my typewriter.

Think of it as spending time with your characters. Take them out of the plot if you have to and just write a short story around them.  When I think of spending time with my characters, I think of bestselling Author Robert Crais telling us at a writing convention how he loves to spend time with his Elvis Cole and Joe Pike. Wouldn’t you just love to hang out with those guys too?  He gets to do it whenever he feels like it.  Mystery writer Margaret Coel says the same thing. She enjoys checking on what her characters Father John O’Malley and Arapaho attorney Vicky Holden are doing today.

Spend some time with them and ask what their problems are, and you may find yourself caught up in your book again.

Try another project besides your novel, even if it’s a novella or short story. I’ve always been able to work on several things at a time and people ask how I can do that. Well, it’s one thing that keeps me from getting writer’s block.  When I find myself at a dead end with one story, I put it aside for the moment and pull up another one and begin work on that. For instance, when I feel like a shopping expedition, I might work on my Blues mystery where anchorwoman Kimberly has plenty of time these days for shopping and she still has a bigger desire than her budget.

If I feel like traveling to the Northwest, I work on my sequel to Deadly Messages and spend time with Lisa Romero who is on the run in the San Juan Islands.

 

Finally, if I find myself ready for the old West, I go back in time to 1880 and Johnson Mesa near Trinidad, Co, where I am setting my first western romance.

Will these two ideas work for everyone? Maybe not, but they are there for you to consider. New projects, old characters – both can help to get you back into your writing.