Middle Grade Settings: An Introduction Having photos in front of you can help you write about your settings I’m going to make a confession. Settings are not something I often spend time planning. Perhaps my stories are the poorer for it, but the settings come as I’m writing or editing. The Glass Room, in Taking Wing, is not something I planned before I started writing. Personally, I’m a very visual writer, seeing my characters as though they are a video in my head, and I write what I see. As such, the setting just happens! There are benefits and drawbacks to this. The main benefit is that the writing process is more interesting. Not everything is set, and my story can still give me surprises. The drawback is that, similar to AI, I cannot know that I’m not stealing settings from films and books I’ve seen/read previously. I certainly don’t mean to plagiarise but the concern is a real one! With that in mind, I have started to at least have a vague idea of my settings before I start t...
It's Thursday! So get ready for some harsh truths about writing and publishing.
This week, we are talking about that divisive of all writing topics: writer's block!
Writer's Block is when, for no explicable reason, a writer loses their productivity. Some writers believe that it exists, others are certain it does not.
But, here's the harsh truth: writer's block does exist. There are times when a writer struggles to write a single page. When people say it doesn't exist, what they usually mean is "you can do something about it". To say writer's block isn't real takes away from of the skill of an author. It is the author's skill to work through writer's block.
So, here are a few ideas to help you work through this very real predicament:
- Just sit down and write. You might write a load of rubbish, but you're going to edit your book anyway, so don't worry! Get that chapter down and, by the time you've written a few hundred words, you'll have probably pushed past that seemingly impenetrable wall.
- Listen to music. Create a story playlist that you listen to every time you write that particular story. That way, if you're struggling to write, pop the playlist on and your brain will tell you it's story time!
- I don't go in for the whole journal-writing thing, or writing exercises. I like to have something a little more useful to show for my hard work. However, some authors find small writing exercises enough to get them in the writing zone.
- I might be shot down by other authors for saying this, but I find marketing to be a great way of getting myself in the writing frame of mind. Make promotional photos, research book covers in your genre, read writing advice blogs. All these things will help your author business. They are worth the time.
- Reward yourself. Rewards work really well during NaNoWriMo because it's all about word count, and a high word count that will be tricky to achieve. When you hit the 1667 word mark (this is the amount of words you should write a day in NaNoWriMo) treat yourself to a Youtube video, or some goodies.
So there's five pieces of advice for Writer's Block. Remember that writer's block is very real, but it's how you deal with it that's important!
Subscribe if you'd like harsh truths every Thursday, and a more positive look at writing and publishing on Saturday.
Photos
Photo by Ivan Samkov from Pexels
Comments
Post a Comment