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You Guys are Too Hard on Yourselves

Sometimes after I post a piece of advice or a suggestion for improving your craft, I see a lot of you guys in the reblogs talking about how you wish you could be a good writer and take said advice, or that you feel like a failure for not already doing it.

Now listen here, look me in the eyes, you are doing enough.

The last thing I want is to discourage anyone from writing, so I need you to internalize this. You are doing enough as a writer. Yes even if you haven’t written in a while, even if you’ve never been published, or have been rejected a million times, or have never finished a draft. You guys are enough for even trying, and I need you to start recognizing yourselves and being proud of the work you do and/or the ideas you have.

At the very least, start practicing not getting down on yourselves when you hear advice or read someone else’s work. You will only ever get better, don’t start doubting yourself now.

Let’s do a little exercise. Reblog this with three things you think you are totally nailing as a writer, I’ll go first:

                I have a keen sense of pacing.

                I create interesting dynamics between complex characters.

                My ideas are weird and fun and reflect me as a person.

Now go forth with positivity!

Writing Tips

Maintaining Motivation to Write

❀

➼ if you’re bored writing a part & want to move on to another scene… imagine how bored your readers must be

➝ keep it interesting and meaningful ; write every scene like it will be your favorite

➼ if you’re stuck on a scene — skip it

➝ use placeholders and come back to it when motivation strikes

➝ personally, I do something like: {ENTER: battle scene} and then I’ll list details, lines, or dialogue I want to include so I don’t lose my ideas

➼ if you’re stuck on where to go with a scene — delete the last line and reroute

➝ keep your last line saved somewhere or in brackets — never actually delete anything, but this can help broaden your perspective and encourage creativity

➼ if you’re stuck on a character name — use placeholders

➝ I love to research my names intensely; I’ll spend way too long researching that I’ll forget what I wanted to start writing ; plus once I get attached to a name I am reluctant to change it, even if I think of a better one

➝ so I’ll temporarily replace the name with something like: [A] or [Villain] or [King]

➼ if you don’t have motivation to write an entire excerpt, write a sentence for each of the five senses in the scene

➝ touch, sight, hearing, taste, smell

➝ having these details can help immerse yourself back into the scene when you’re ready to write it

You Inspire Me: To a Partner Who Always Makes Time to Write

Writing isn’t as solitary a pursuit as many think. Inspiration comes in many forms, but most often, it comes in the shape of people. All month long, we’re asking writers to write a Not-So-Secret-Admirer’s Note to the people who’ve inspired them to take up the pen. Today, participant Amanda N. Butler writes our final note to her NaNoWriMo supporter and fiancé:

Dear Matt,

A major factor of my exuberant “Yes!” to your proposal is our mutual support of each other. Since Day One, you have supported me through homework, internships, new jobs—and NaNoWriMo! 

One of my favorite memories will always be sitting next to you, frantically scribbling the day’s word count goal (because I like to torture myself with manuscripts in long-hand) as you wrote your play next to me in silent support, stopping only for quick, intermittent kisses. With you and writing being my two passions, I am grateful for this synthesis.

I watch you come home from work every day and still make time to write. In this, you have inspired me to continue writing, no matter what. You support every story pitch and give me a giant hug after every project submitted. Because of you, I am inspired to do something for my writing every day, even if it’s jotting down a note for my works-in-progress.

And for all this, I am eternally grateful. I can’t wait for the rest of our lives.

Your fiancée and not-so-secret admirer,

Amanda

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Me gustaba su estilo, su elegancia, no cualquier mujer puede tener ese garbo de verse clásica como en el Partenón de Atenas con lineas y figuras estéticas en el vestir, que se complementan con las formas artísticas de su cuerpo. El Partenon de Atenas tenia esa lineas horizontales y verticales enmarcadas en una belleza estética clásica, sin lineas garigoleadas y góticas, sino simples en belleza, para demostrar la grandeza del pensamiento del hombre en lo simple sin perder lo estético, y arrojado en una pieza de arquitectura.

Asi era ella, o quizás asi la construia por el efecto de su belleza en mi corazón.

“Las Mil y Una Noches con Ms Beautiful”. Extracto.

Todos piensan en cambiar el mundo, pero nadie piensa en cambiarse a sí mismo.

Leo Tolstoy (via elcielosobremi)

Five Mystery and Suspense Tools to Drive Your NaNoWriMo Novel Forward

Every year, we’re lucky to have great sponsors for our nonprofit events. Today, Sisters in Crime—a community platform for mystery, thriller, and crime writers—shares some tips for writing suspenseful storylines (even for non-mystery novels!). Sisters in Crime is a NaNoWriMo 2020 sponsor.

In the crime fiction genre—including suspense novels, mysteries, and thrillers—there’s nothing better than the reader review that says “I stayed up all night to get to the end.” The propellant writers construct to push readers through to the final page is known as “narrative drive,” something our genre relies on to get readers hooked and turning pages. But it’s not only genre fiction that needs to suspend readers’ attention for the length of a story. Any story needs to catch fire in the reader’s mind to be successful.

And anyone writing 50K in 30 days needs a few ideas for generating tension in their story—without slowing down. As you #NaNoPrep this year, consider these five tools from Sisters in Crime, the international, inclusive organization for writers and readers of crime fiction, mysteries, thrillers, and suspense.

What’s in the mystery and suspense writer’s tool box for you?

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“In mechanical arts, the craftsman uses his skill to produce something useful, but his sole merit lies in skill. In the fine arts the student uses skill to produce something beautiful. He is free to choose what that something shall be, and the layman claims that he may and must judge the artist chiefly by the value in beauty of the thing done. Artistic skill contributes to beauty, or it would not be skill; but beauty is the result of many elements, and the nobler the art the lower is the rank which skill takes among them.“

– Attributed to Fleeming Jenkin, in John Munro’s Heroes of the Telegraph.

Professor Henry Charles Fleeming Jenkin represents both the craftsman and the artist of the early nineteenth century. This renaissance man of Edinburgh was born on 25 March 1833. His prolific career as an electrical engineer and professor glitters with a variety of accomplishments. He is known as the engineer of the telpher, or aerial tramway. In addition to engineering, he crossed over into the business and academic work; his writing topics extended into over 35 British patents, and over 40 published papers.

Fleeming Jenkin won medals during his professional career from the Royal Society of Edinburgh for his graphical method to calculate strains in bridges; yet he also drew portraits, wrote about artistry, and contributed to commentary on popular literature in his time.

Electricity and magnetism formed one of Fleeming Jenkin’s major passions; he participated in the Institution of Civil Engineers, the Institute of Mechanical Engineers, and determined a convenient unit and standard of electrical resistance with a committee.

Image: Aerial tramway in La Grave (France) by NielsB. CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

Types of Opening Scenes for Your Novel

Here are a handful of ways to open the very first scene in your book! There are plenty more to explore, but these are a set of very tried and true methods.

Autobiographic - your protagonist starts the book reflecting or talking about a past event. They’re looking back in time and sharing an important piece of information with the reader.

In trouble/conflict - a problem has arisen for the protagonist and a sense of urgency is established. This can be an intense conflict like a chase scene or a puzzling problem.

Mysterious opening - the reader is introduced to something peculiar (a fantasy location, unique magic, a cloaked figure, etc.) that raises questions in their mind. Their curiosity will keep them reading.

Scene-setting - the most common opening where you focus on introducing the setting and the characters in it before anything else.

The questioner - the protagonist is questioning something: “Who invited the guy in the trench coat covered in red?”

Beginning with a thought - the novel is started with a philosophical quote or meaningful thought from the protagonist. “What is living worth if she’s not doing it with me?”

Intriguing dialogue - the book starts with interesting dialogue that captures the attention of the reader.

Mood establisher - the novel opens with a deliberate mood that signifies to the reader what they should expect from the story. Ex. a spooky story may open with eerie words and a dark atmosphere.

Instagram: coffeebeanwriting

Types of Opening Scenes for Your Novel

Here are a handful of ways to open the very first scene in your book! There are plenty more to explore, but these are a set of very tried and true methods.

Autobiographic - your protagonist starts the book reflecting or talking about a past event. They’re looking back in time and sharing an important piece of information with the reader.

In trouble/conflict - a problem has arisen for the protagonist and a sense of urgency is established. This can be an intense conflict like a chase scene or a puzzling problem.

Mysterious opening - the reader is introduced to something peculiar (a fantasy location, unique magic, a cloaked figure, etc.) that raises questions in their mind. Their curiosity will keep them reading.

Scene-setting - the most common opening where you focus on introducing the setting and the characters in it before anything else.

The questioner - the protagonist is questioning something: “Who invited the guy in the trench coat covered in red?”

Beginning with a thought - the novel is started with a philosophical quote or meaningful thought from the protagonist. “What is living worth if she’s not doing it with me?”

Intriguing dialogue - the book starts with interesting dialogue that captures the attention of the reader.

Mood establisher - the novel opens with a deliberate mood that signifies to the reader what they should expect from the story. Ex. a spooky story may open with eerie words and a dark atmosphere.

Instagram: coffeebeanwriting