Fiction Scribe

I don’t usually post about the ‘best blogs’ lists because I usually prefer to talk about my favourite blogs to give things a personal feel. However, many of my favourite blogs are on this list and have been talking about it for a while. You’d do well to at least check out these blogs if not add them to your feed reader.

Straight from Writing White Pages:

“If you’re a writer, you’ll find daily doses of inspiration and discovery at these excellent blogs:

1. Copyblogger: As the undefeated champ, this blog has held the number-one spot for three straight years! The baby of Brian Clark, this blog keeps winning because of its excellent and educational articles.
2. Men With Pens: James Chartrand and Harry McLeod are the dynamic duo who continue to deliver rich content and community discussion.
3. Freelance Writing Jobs: Founded by Deb Ng, this site is the first stop for freelance writers seeking new work and great articles (and it remains a top winner since this contest began).
4. Write to Done: This blog delivers a steady stream of excellent articles for all writers and is the product of top blogger Leo Babauta.
5. Confident Writing: Looking for encouragement? Joanna Young will help you take your writing to the next level.
6. The Renegade Writer: Linda Formichelli and Diana Burell, authors of a book by the same name, help freelance journalists find inspiration.
7. Remarkable Communication: One part writing, one part marketing and one part selling, this excellent blog by Sonia Simone will help any writer succeed.
8. Writing Journey: Looking for a great stop on your writing journey? Bob Younce’s blog will refresh and energize you.
9. Freelance Parent: Two moms, Lorna Doone Brewer and Tamara Berry, provide excellent perspective on writing while balancing time with little ones.
10. Urban Muse: Susan Johnston covers a wide range of excellent topics that all writers will enjoy.”

Whether we think it’s necessary for good writing or not, most of us would love to have a set block of time each day for sitting down and letting the creativity flow. It doesn’t always work that way. Even if you are fortunate enough to make the time and have the energy for daily writing, the creativity flow tends to cooperate when it wishes.

However, there are ways you can encourage the muse and open the creative floodgates. Here are just some suggestions on getting started.

1. Brief meditation.
Even a few minutes of meditation before you start writing can help clear your mind and get things going.

2. Play some word association (like Unconscious Mutterings).
If nothing else, it will have you wondering why in the world you associated some words with others…

3. Do some mind mapping.
Easy, creative, and you can combine words with drawings and whatever else you want. It’s an excellent tool for releasing your creativity.

4. Stretch.
Get the blood flowing and you might just find that you’re thinking a bit more clearly. Try doing it a few times while you’re writing (just being mindful not to break any flows of creativity).

5. Schedule writing time away from home (café, library, train station).
Strangely enough, some of my best ideas and character profiles have come to me while sitting at the train station. I usually don’t go there for the sole purpose of writing, but I always make sure to have a pen and paper with me when I go.

6. Start at the end.
Or wherever you usually don’t start. Switching up your writing style – or just attempting to – can open up things in interesting and sometimes unexpected ways.

7. Turn off the internet.
Radio, television, internet, emails, etc… Turn them all off, close them, put them away… Anything that might distract you in your writing must go.

8. Read back.
Take a few (I repeat: a few) minutes and look back over other things you’ve written. You may get some new ideas or get yourself in the mood for a rewrite.

9. Switch up.
Try writing from a different character’s point of view, try imagining what your best friend would write, or even do some writing from an ‘alter ego’ point of view. The key is to make it different.

10. Reward yourself.
There is nothing wrong with saying, “If I get to X words today, I’m having a piece of cake.” Just don’t make it cake every night and don’t make ‘x’ too easy.

Are there any tools or tricks you use to help inspire and motivate yourself?

Honestly? I have been a bit sick of writing about the same subjects day in and day out. I try to take breaks, but it doesn’t really work out because I write for a living. As in, to pay bills. This is my job, and I certainly don’t hear other people talking about just not working for a day because they ‘just don’t feel like it’. (Okay, so plenty of people have pulled a sickie, but not on a consistent basis.)

So what is a poor, worn down, tired writer to do?

Keep writing, of course.

You would think that the natural solution to my predicament would be to just take a vacation and stop writing for a while. I have done that in the past, but that only makes it hard to get back into the swing of things when the vacation is over.

So how do you take a break from writing without putting the brakes on your writing?

The answer is so simple, and that’s probably why we forget it so easily: Write something different.

Here on 451press, many of the writers are getting together and breathing new life into each other’s blogs by guest posting. While I wasn’t exactly enthused with the idea at first, I wasn’t about to turn down guest posts for my sites and I felt like I should repay the gesture.

I am so incredibly glad I did.

By writing about different subjects for once, I regained my enthusiasm for blogging. I wrote not one but about ten posts for various sites, and it felt great! I remembered why I like writing and blogging so much.

So if you’re feeling a bit ‘sick and tired’ of what you’re working on, try something new! Be it a guest post (ahem), a writing prompt, or something else. Give your mind and your creativity a breath of fresh air without stopping writing.

A friend recently told me that while Fiction Scribe is a good blog, it isn’t THE blog and could do better. He acknowledged that working for a network and meeting minimum posting requirements means that my heart isn’t likely going to be completely behind everything I write.

And he’s completely correct.

When it comes to writing day in and day out, there are a few things you can do – like taking a breath of fresh air – to help you get past the times when you’re just not ‘feeling it’, but that isn’t always the key that fixes all problems.

Sometimes it takes a bit more confidence. Knowing you’re being heard and that people are eager to listen. Having the confidence to stand up and say what you want to say with a clear voice.

Sometimes it takes just gritting your teeth and shoving through with all the will power you can muster inside yourself.

And yet other times, it takes a little community help and feedback.

If there is anything you would ever like to see more/less of here on Fiction Scribe, do not hesitate to let me know. I don’t bite (I might be reported to immigration if I did) and above all, I want this site to be great for you. You can contact me at any time via the ‘contact me’ button under the site description on the right.

I want only the best things for Fiction Scribe. I want to talk about things you want to hear about, to post listings for places you want to submit to and all the other things in between.

Let me know what you’d like to see from this site.

Yesterday I talked about how novels are more organic than solid. Yes, novel writing is taught, but there is no one way to write a novel (or short story). Even in your personal experience, one idea may come to you quietly while some may smack you over the head and drag you along for the ride.

How do you encourage your stories to be unique and organic? Here are five tips on how you can encourage the full organic experience from your novel or short story:

Always carry a paper and pen with you. I know I always say this, but there is a reason I say it.

Write in different places. Comfort isn’t everything. Some writers need perfect conditions to write but that dramatically decreases the amount of time you can actually spend writing. It’ll be good for your writing for you to get out and about as well.

Let your novel lead. I said this yesterday and I’ll say it again: You never write a novel the exact same way twice. Don’t base decisions about your current work in progress on your last project.

Don’t be too controlling. Experiment or try things you. Even if you write yourself into a dead end or a place you didn’t expect, no material need be wasted. Maybe you can use it for something else.

Have fun. If writing is always work for you, then you’re doing the wrong thing.

***This post is part of the Fiction Scribe 100 Comments Contest. Click on the link to find out how you can win.***

Novel and short story writing is often taught, but any writer will tell you that there is no one way to write a novel. Some outline, some don’t. Some let the characters lead while others let the world be the dominant force.

No matter how you do it, I’m willing to venture you don’t write novels the same way twice.

I think of novels as a bit of a more organic thing than something I simply sit down and write. Each novel takes me in a different way. My current work in progress is presenting itself to me in little bits and pieces, none of which are in order. I have had novels keep me up at night because I simply had to finish writing that chapter or scene. I have completely outlined a novella before writing it, and I have also outlined absolutely nothing.

Sometimes the characters lead. Actually, with my work, the characters often lead, but even that varies from story to story.

As it should.

The organic novel is a good thing. It means that not every novel is the same in a very basic and perhaps even slightly subconscious way. The way your novel takes you in your writing it (by the hair, by the balls, or a more gentle approach) is often the way it will take your reader.

While your reader may not have to take a midnight cemetery ghost tour to really capture the essence of the book, the fact that your novel demanded that of you just goes to show that each one is and should be different.

Don’t resist where your novel takes you. Let it lead. You can always edit later.

***This post is part of the Fiction Scribe 100 Comments Contest. Click on the link to find out how you can win.***

…then I have the money, honey.

Isn’t that how that song goes? I can’t quite remember and I really can’t be bothered to Google right now.

I have touched on the subject of time to write not being something you find but rather, something you make. However, I didn’t talk about ways you can make better use of your time when trying to make that precious time to write.

And let’s face it – we’re all ‘too busy’ for a lot of things, but that shouldn’t be the case with your writing.

Here are some quick tips from posts of the past to help you on your way to making more time for your writing:

*Make your to-do list - quickly, don’t use it as a stall - before you start writing. That way you don’t have to worry about trying to remember all you have to do along with all your characters have to do, where your plot is going, etc.

*For one entire day - the whole day - take a notepad or note cards with you everywhere. (You should be doing this already, by the way. Tsk, tsk.) I want you to document the times and events of your day. Even how much time you sit down to watch television to how much time you allow yourself to enjoy your chef salad at lunch time.

Don’t adjust yourself in any way. Take the day as you would always do it, and try not to pay attention to what you’ve written until the day is over.

*While brushing your teeth. Staring at yourself in the mirror can be fun, but you could be writing down notes while you’re doing it. It also gets you to brush your teeth longer (usually) which will be good for your dental hygiene.

For more on time management, check out Turn Off Your Brain and Time Management Part One, Two and Three.

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

“You will never ‘find’ time for anything. If you want time you must make it.�? – Charles Buxton, English author (1823-1871)

Even in the 1800s people understood that ‘we’re all busy’ and no one ever seems to have enough time for anything. That’s why when it comes to writing you can’t sit around waiting for inspiration to come to you.

You have to go out and find it.

The same goes with ‘finding’ time for your writing. It’s up to you. If you are dedicated enough to your craft, then you will make the time. Even if you have to give up some of your sleep hours to do so.

Yes, it’s all find and well for me to talk about how you have to go out and find inspiration instead of waiting for it, but where do you look?

If you honestly need to ask me that, then you either have a long way to go in the world
Writers write about life. The world. People. Anyone, anywhere, everything. As a writer, you are an observer. You shouldn’t expect to sit holed away in your writing room for all eternity and write masterpieces.

At one point or another, you have to get out there and truly look at the world. Connect. Therein lies inspiration. In the everyday, in observations, in people watching.

Try going out somewhere at least once a week to observe and listen to people. Explore places you’ve never been. Listen to what people are talking about. Find things that interest you and the things that interest them.

Find inspiration.