TedTalks Writers

If you’re not familiar with Tedtalks, you should be. This page on TedTalks Authors includes a number of speeches by authors on their writing experiences. (You can also find so much fascinating science and education speeches too).

I really enjoyed A.J. Jacobs, A Year Living Biblically, where he shares his experiences as an agnostic living by the 700 rules of the Bible.

 

Elizabeth Gilbert of Eat, Pray, Love, shares her writing thoughts in ‘Your Elusive Creative Genius”.  I like her writing style, but didn’t really enjoy her book. I will try to read her other stuff to see if I like them. Her lecture, however, goes on about her experiences as a bestselling author, and the writing process.

 

And then there’s Shane Koyczan, a poet with words that just grip you hard and shakes you. His To This Day poem touches upon bullying and the impact words have on you….for a lifetime.

These are just a few of the many writers and poets, among scientists and educators, who share amazing stories through TedTalks. If you have favorites- post in comments.

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Short story vs novels

I like the idea of writing short stories compared to novels. Either provide authors challenges as well as rewards, and today, I’d like to discuss them;

Short Stories

Challenges:

- Short stories are condensed plots. They quickly get to the point, and move along.

- Short stories tell the story within 10,000 words. For some plots, this can be a real challenge. Every word counts.

- Short stories offer hurdles in getting published, unless a magazine, or anthology.

- Short stories don’t earn as much as novels, but with the Internet and e-publishing, I think we’ll see changes in that regard.

Rewards:

- Short stories, obviously, don’t take the amount of time and rewrites as novels.

-Short stories have fewer characters to remember and wrangle.

- Short stories generally have one main conflict and perhaps an internal subplot.

Novels

Challenges:

- Novels range from 50,000 – 150,000 word story. This takes more time in drafting, rewriting, and editing the manuscript.

- Novels include a number of plots. This includes the main conflict, internal conflicts, and a series of subplots from various characters.

Rewards:

- Novels offer more space and time to draw out the story. You can explore, in depth, character and plot development.

- Novels earn more money, if and when you’re published.

- Novels offer a greater range of choice with word counts. Novellas run about 50,000 words, while novels run around 75,000-150,000.

I have a number of stories that expanded into novel length. I believe this is why short stories do not explain every little thing; its not necessary. You only include vital information to move the story along.

What’s your thoughts? Do you prefer short stories or novels? Have you written both? What tips or advice would you give would-be writers on the subject? Leave in comments.

How to write a short story

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Top 10 things you should know about word processors

Here are some of the most important things you need to know about word processors, as a writer;

1. Backup. MS Word and Open Office (and I’m sure other programs) offer a setting to back up your work. I highly recommend turning this feature ‘on’. You can set for certain times, such as every 5 minutes. This enables writers to automatically backup while they work.

Backup in MS Word (recent versions). You may need to look up your specific version of MS Word

How to create backup copy in Open office

2. Automatic saves. I know the word processors also provide the feature of automatically creating saves in timely increment. I think the default setting for MS Word is 10 minutes, but as a fast typer, I can lose quite a lot in 10 minutes. I changed it to every 5 minutes. This saves your work automatically while you work.

Autosave in MS Word

Autosave in Open office

3. Templates. Word processors offer tons of templates from the manufacturers but often times you can find users upload these to share on the Web. I’m including some links to writer-related templates; (Check your program version)

Book Manuscript and short story templates for MS Word.

Book manuscript template for Open Office

4. Find and replace feature. The find/replace feature works in nearly all word processing. You can find and replace just one event, or find all words and change as you desire. I’ve also used this feature, to find spacing or even symbols in the manuscript.

- Click Ctrl+F which will open a box to type in the word you wish to find.

Find and replace in MS Word

Find and replace in Open Office

5. Hotkeys or Keyboard shortcuts. I use these a lot when I type because it takes time to reach for the mouse to click and drag things. With hotkeys, you find the same commands do the same thing, and your hands stay on the keyboard. You can save, print, cut/copy/paste, highlight, insert auto text, change formatting, and so much more.

Hotkeys for MS Word

Hotkeys for Open office

6. You can change default settings for font and file format. Some writers find their word processor has the Ariel font as their default. Its better to change this to Times New Roman or Courier. Even Georgia and Bookman works pretty well. And why? Its to help make reading easier for the reader (or editor/agent).

The font size should also be 12 point.

How to change default font in MS Word

How to change font in Open Office

You should also think about the default save format of your document. Most settings for writers include RTF (rich text format) or DOC (MS Word), or TXT (text). Avoid using the default DOCX format.

Change other formatting settings in MS Word

7. Header and Footers. These are essential when formatting for submission. Each page should  include your last name, title, and page number. I find for my writer’s group, we also ask for email address so feedback can be sent to the author.

Headers in MS Word

Headers in Open office

8. Macros. Macros are programmable actions the program will do by assigned keys. For instance, in my journal document in MS Word, I was sick of adding the date, day of the week, and ‘goals’. I created a Macro which adds all of this with the simple Ctrl+PageUP key combo. Very handy.

Macros in MS Word, Macro for Windows XP

Macros for books

Macros in Open Office

9. Dictionary and Thesaurus. Did you know MS Word and Open Office include a built in dictionary and thesaurus? You can even edit words to include character names, settings, or odd words you’ve made up for your story. The thesaurus also helps the writer to find words that mean the same, if you’re at a loss for the right word.

How to remove a word in MS Word dictionary

Custom dictionaries for MS Word

How to use MS Thesaurus

Open office dictionaries- information about Openoffice dictionaries, how to install new ones, add thesaurus and more.

10. Spellcheck and grammar checking. I must preface this feature with a warning that programs are STUPID, they only do what they are programmed to do, and cannot use words in context. That being said, these features should not be the final method used in checking your writing.  The grammar also includes settings for formal and informal styles. For instance, you can choose the program to check for words like contractions (you’re vs you are). In some styles of writing, this is important.

Check spelling and grammar in Office

Top 10 tips for mastering MS Word’s spell check feature

Choose how spell check and grammar check work in MS Word

Spellcheck for Open office

I don’t think Open office has a grammar checker but you can find some online

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Wednesday Writer: Christina Nelson

Two of the things I look for in sites I share for Wednesday Writer is;

1) They have to do with writing in some sort of fashion. This could be either their personal experiences as an author, or sharing about the writing process.

And 2) have some sort of element of entertainment. This site has a bit of both.

Christina Nelson’s site includes a number of blog posts where she shares about her personal experience as a writer on the road to publication, with some amusing videos on the day to day stuff, too.

She includes videos from her YouTube channel.  There’s something very helpful in listening to the personal experiences she shares on her process, with the off-topic videos she shares to lighten things up.  I enjoyed her Hiding video, where she admitted to hiding from her novel, as well as The Novelist Rises to Defeat NaNoWriMo.

Leave her some nice comments and encourage her to write!

Do you have web sites or authors you’d like to see as the Wednesday writer? Post in comments.

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Games for Writers

 Here are a few games you might enjoy that helps writers come up with ideas, to break the writer’s block issues, and should spark some creative juices;

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The Storymatic includes two sets of cards that when put together randomly sparks potential stories and ideas. You could also collect your own and start your own deck of cards to build ideas.

 

Rory’s Story Cubes comes in various types from adult to even children’s versions. The concept is similar, except the dice rolled include pictures. You can lay them out in a plot, or use the cubes as the elements of a story such as characters, theme, conflict, and so forth.

 

The Amazing Story Generator is not so much a game but does something similar as the story cubes. Instead of pictures or cubes, you get a flip book broken up into three sections to randomly pick elements of a story. 

You could also use the card game Munchkin to provoke ideas for storytelling, in particular, fantasy, role playing type stories.  Draw cards to add characters or story elements.

 

Iphone, Android, and tablet apps also offer some fun prompts. I use Writing Prompts for the Iphone to randomly view prompts, scenes, even pictures. You can then save to favorites.  You can also add your own prompts as inspiration hits you.

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Some writing activities:

I decided to post some ideas to get the creative juices flowing for those of you who might be a bit stuck;

Use the following picture to practice writing about the senses. Imagine yourself diving in the water, and describe the experience. Use all the senses.

Source: online.wsj.com via Sharon on Pinterest

 

Consider the following quote on the idea of writing about things that scares you. This means you explore your phobias, innermost fears, nightmares, and darker aspects of yourself.  I have a fear of something happening to my son, so I might write a scene about a parent dealing with a lost child. It would be tough, but the idea is that you delve into what makes us human, and share that in your writing. (you can also add a happy ending later on)

Source: dawncamp.bigcartel.com via Sharon on Pinterest

 

Use the Snowflake method to brainstorm ideas. This can be fun in coming with new ideas. Start with a single thought, and start expanding in all direction with new ideas by using word association. For example, I might start out with dragons, which reminds me mountains, which makes me think of ice (and York Peppermint patties), and I also think of fire breathing, scales, armor, and flight. From each of those ideas, I can expand. With flight, I think of floating, falling, soaring, spaceships, eagles, a kite, a blimp… it goes on and on.

When you’re done, you can end up having a page or two on ideas. You can also use entire sentences if you want.

And keep writing!

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