Fiction Scribe

Hello everyone! I feel like it’s been a while for some reason. Perhaps I am finally actually going crazy? Perhaps. This week has been busy enough for it.

A friend in one of the writing groups I’m in sent me a link for a fun writing exercise called 100 Words. I decided to check out the lovely Velvet Verbosity site. I like it a lot and am in the mood for some fun writing exercises, so here is my contribution to the current challenge:

Eden

Eden. The mythical, biblical land of absolute perfection and paradise. Thinking of Eden made John think of great expanses of very green grass with beautiful trees in sight in every direction. Some bore the purest beautiful fruit you could ever imagine.

Maybe after the betrayal of Adam and Eve, God burned Eden.

Ah, I enjoyed that. Sometimes I miss doing the exercises and other writing related activities that I did much more of while I…wasn’t working. Ha.

If you take part in this exercise, don’t forget to leave me a link so I can take a peek and a link at VV as well.

***This post is part of the 100 Comments Contest. Check out this post to find out how you can win.***

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.

Hello and welcome to another weekly writing challenge…or not.

Last week I challenged you to write three hundred words a day in preparation (or simply in challenge if you aren’t participating) for NaNoWriMo. You may have squirmed a bit – I know I did – but that’s less than half of what you have to do for NaNo, which is about 1,667 words a day.

I’m very happy to report that the challenge got me over the 8,000 word mark on my novel. It wasn’t at all easy some days and I didn’t always write the most pristine scenes, but I got it finished.

This week you have no challenge to complete for Fiction Scribe. Why? Because next week both NaNoWriMo and NaBloPoMo start. I feel that will be challenging enough for all the participants, especially those, like me, who are going to try to participate in both.

A few notes about NaNo and NaBlo:

I’m donating one of the prizes for NaBlo this year so sign up for your chance to win!

On Write Anyway I will be posting every day in November with both a NaNo inspiration post and NaBlo inspiration post per day. It could be anything from a report of how I’m doing with either, a dare for you to write into your NaNo, or a question for you to think and write/blog about. Feel free to check in there at any time if you need to get your mind off what you’re doing or get yourself to focus.

Good luck to all participants!

Hello once again!

How did last week’s challenge work out for you? Putting in my 200 words a day over the last week, I finally got over 6,000 words in on my current novel in progress. I’m rather proud of myself, even though I’ll probably get rid of half of it in heavy editing.

I’m only too well aware that in two weeks we’ll have already started NaNoWriMo and NaBloPoMo, both of which I am signed up for. That’s why I am upping the weekly challenge in an effort to get you warmed up for NaNoWriMo. (more…)

Hello ladies and gentlemen!

For the past two weeks, you have been able to slack off as you please because I have been away at Conflux (which I have yet to write about. Tsk.). This week we are back in action, back to work, back to the challenge.

The work has been piling up, and now it’s time to get going once again!

This week your challenge is (more…)

Last week, I challenged you to write a humorous short story. Humor writers who can actually write humor well is, I believe, a rare talent. In a world of most sitcoms being:

1. A character lies.
2. A character spends time trying to cover up the lie.
3. The character is found out and has to face the consequences.

it’s no wonder we consider it a rare talent. I’m not saying humor writers aren’t out there, but good ones are a rare find indeed.

This week, you challenge is…to relax.

Yes, you read that right.

As you read this, I’m away at Conflux 4 and having a lovely time. Because I’m so happy about getting such a lovely opportunity, you get the week off to write as much as you like, as little as you like, and about whatever you like.

Enjoy yourself, relax, and go out to do things you love and what inspires you.

Hello and welcome to this week’s weekly writing challenge. As you may have noticed, it’s Saturday, not Sunday. I’ve been meaning to make the change for a while, and now I finally remembered. (That’s pretty good for less-than-a-week-to-Conflux brain.)

Last week I challenged you to write at least a paragraph from one or more of your characters’ perspectives. I thought I’d share one of the paragraphs I wrote for a character of mine called Mabel from a children’s story. Keep in mind I’m just getting to know her, so this might be a bit…rough.

Talk about me? Well… My name is Mabel. I come from a large family – I’m the eldest. I work for the four princes of Lorne. I do maid things as well as whatever else the princes request. I have a good life.

I don’t want much more out of life. As long as everyone is happy, then things are good. I’m good friends with Prince Edo. I care a lot about him. I wish he could be happy with me, but I’d never tell him that. His brothers, the twins, know. The twins are quite clever. Edo is as well, but he’s so enamoured with Helene that…I’d rather not talk about it.

That’s your basic introduction paragraph. From there you should get to know your characters more by having them delve into their relationships. Ask them about what they want out of life and for the world, even. You’ll find your character turning into a pessimist, optimist, coward, aggressor…

This week’s challenge may sound simple, but it’s a bit more complicated than it may at first seem. I challenge you to write a humorous short story (or longer if you like). Not a lot of people can write good humour, so it’s definitely a trait worth cultivating.

You pick the setting, the characters, and the plot. As long as it’s humorous, it works.

For other challenges, check out past writing challenges.

Welcome to this week’s writing challenge.

I’m left wondering (again) if these challenges are helping people, or if I should use my time more constructively. Or perhaps they could merely be improved upon by providing some other motivating factor like a prize of some sort.

At this moment, I have no clue about you, but the challenges have been helping me.

Last week the challenge was simple - set a minimum daily word count of at least 100 words. I set mine at 200 words and am happy to report I have over 3,000 typed. While I didn’t sit down every day to write in it (which was a big part of it), I only didn’t because I’ve been ill, so I don’t feel bad.

I hope the challenge went well for you. What was your minimum? Did you make it every day or do like I did and make up for days lost?

This week’s challenge is inspired in something I read in Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird (discussion).

It takes a while to get to know your characters, and that’s something I often forget. What you need to get to know about them is what’s important - what’s at stake. It’s what’s at stake that makes the plot and keeps it moving.

So to help you get to know your characters, your challenge is to write a paragraph to a page from each character’s perspective. Have them talk about who they are as if someone has asked them to talk a bit about their lives, etc.

Find out what’s at stake in each character’s life. What’s meaningful, what would they fight for, and what would they learn to let go?

This can be a useful exercise even if you feel like you already know your characters. You never know what they might reveal.

Enjoy.

Hello, hello, and welcome to another edition of the weekly writing challenge, where I come up with a challenge per week to keep you writing.

Last week your challenge involved a bit of character play. I challenged you to take one character on the side of good/bad and put him/her on the other side.

I’m curious as to how this went for people if you’d like to comment.

This week’s challenge is, yet again, something I feel I need to challenge myself with. I have a short story contest I’d like to enter. I have my competition pieces… in pieces. I also have a novel that isn’t moving as fast as I would like it to.

This week’s challenge: Set a minimum daily word count.

My word count is going to be 200 words a day. Per short story. You don’t have to apply yours per project like me, but you do have to get the minimum amount of words per day. Be that 100 words on two stories or 200 words on one.

Part of this challenge is you can’t set a minimum of less than 100.

Have fun, challenge yourself, and get some writing done.

Last week I challenged you to get to know your antagonist beyond the cardboard character s/he might currently be. The experience was interesting for me, as my main antagonist didn’t feel much like cooperating. He acted much the same no matter where I put him or who I put him with.

That is, until I rewound time and put him in his own past. He didn’t like that at all. I didn’t expect him to, either, but he did reveal some things about himself that I had known in the way back dusty part of my mind but that I didn’t know I could use like I now can.

Your challenge this week was inspired by something a friend of mine said to me. He mentioned he is working on co-writing a novel (Kudos to him, by the way. I don’t play that well with others.) and that his co-author had created the perfect turncoat. He wanted a turncoat in his novel because they’re fun to work with.

(more…)

Last week I challenged you to step outside your usual writing style. This week, we’re going to step back in and get to know our characters a bit more.

This week’s challenge is about getting to know your antagonist. Too often, writers don’t dedicate enough time to rounding out their antagonist and creating a character the reader will pay attention to and think about. Antagonists don’t need to be cardboard murderers with mental illness(es). Your antagonist has the potential to be your most complex and perhaps even your favorite character.

Take your favorite character and put him or her in a new setting. Make it a busy marketplace or a quiet bedroom - whichever makes it easier for you to get to know him or her.

What you do next is up to you. You can ‘talk’ to your antagonist as author to character, or you can give him or her a playmate to get to know, get to torture, or get to have a pillow fight if you like. Anything that reveals all sides of him or her. Anything that puts him or her out of his or her usual situation to reveal anything you might not have given him or her the opportunity to show.

Have fun with it.

Last week I challenged you to sit down and write every day. I did for an hour every day, but that wasn’t the minimum time because I know not everyone can afford to write an hour every day.

I have to say, doing this has helped in so many ways. Because I gave myself such a big challenge (an hour or more), I not only had to write, but I also had to work on my time management skills elsewhere. I have now found a comfortable schedule I am quite fond of and works for me. I’ll continue to write every day as for as long as I can squeeze in the time.

It has also been great, of course, for my novel. I now have quite a few pages written and what I feel is a clearer path for the plot. My main character, who I spent many a time complaining about, is now a person a I feel I can work with. I also like my other characters more, which I attribute to…this must be the fourth or fifth rewrite, I think.

Overall, I consider this week’s challenge a success for me.

This week I challenge you to do something different, which is why it comes in two parts. It has to do with how much you plan out your writing before you actually write. Take either the current scene you are working on (if there is a while to go in it) or the scene after and…

…if you’re the type who maps out a scene before you write:

My challenge to you is to put all your diagrams, thought webs, charts, references, etc away. Now write the rest of the current scene or the next scene with no planning whatsoever. Just write, write, write, and let it take you wherever it goes.

…if you’re the type who never maps out a scene before you write:

My challenge to you is to take the rest of the current scene or the next scene to go and plan it out. If you aren’t familiar with doing that, you can use the basic chapter guide:

Chapter name and number:
Previous characters used:
New characters introduced:
Setting:
Important notes:
What happens:

It may not look like a lot of fun to you (either way), but this is an experiment in change. Your voice will never stay fresh if you don’t try new things with what you write, how you write, where you write… Understand what I’m saying?

Don’t keep jostling yourself so you never figure out what you really like, but try new things, including this week’s challenge. You might find you like the different way of doing it, or you may just renew your passion for your current style. Either is a very good thing.

In the Weekly Writing Challenge I said that if three people posted a poem, I would post one of my own. Well, here it is.

This is an example from my slam poetry folder. This kind of poetry is best performed, in my opinion, but can still be enjoyed in the written form. On a writing site I am a member of, someone started a slam poetry thread. This is the only one I have where I’m not slamming on members of that forum.

I hope you enjoy Next Customer, Please

This is for you, yes you,
the one I checked out,
the one I had doubt
of your so-called sanity
when you came to rant at me
‘bout them tappin’ your phone
bein’ all alone
with your empty vault
just like some wannabe
Al Capone.
When today’s not for share.
Not fair? Don’t care
‘bout your awful misery,
bringin’ up history
that I’m no part of.
This is no start of
some kind of friend thing
I’d rather have ending
of your twisted fantasy
tryin’ to take in me.

Next customer.
Please.

Kyla of About Austin, TX has taken up the poetry challenge and has posted her poem in the comments. That makes three poems put up/linked to and, according to the deal, that means I have to post up one of my poems.

However, I’m not going to post it until later this week because of the contest winner and book discussion posts this week, so if you would like to make me put up two or even five of my poems and have your poem (and linked site) featured in a post, you still have time to get in before I reset the poetry challenge clock.

You don’t have long, so get in while you can!

Last week I kept the poetry challenge going. However, since I only got two entries, I don’t have to put up any poetry this week. I will keep the challenge going, though, in case anyone would like to join in.

This week I’m wondering if the writing challenges are really helping you. If they’re not, please feel free to say so and I’ll stop wasting both our time. If you think prompts better help you overall, then stop by Write Anyway and feel free to link your responses to the prompts in the comments section. I’ll link to your response.

I’ve been struggling with my novel. Truly and utterly struggling. So this week is going to be a challenge that suits my current procrastination.

For an hour every day (change the time as needed - I know not everyone can do an hour a day) I am going to sit down with no distractions beyond noise. (I tend to write better with music or television in the background.) No computer. Certainly no internet. I’ll buy sushi so I can’t use cooking as a distraction.

Basically, for one hour every day, I will sit my butt down on the couch and get some writing done.

Finally.

I need to get out of this cycle of procrastination and avoidance. I’m not sure exactly why I’m avoiding it like I do, but maybe this will help me to figure out. I hope it will help you, too, if you’re having a similar problem.