More on my journey

I have been incredibly remiss on sharing my personal story about writing and getting published. I hope to remedy that this month by posting regular updates.

My daily vlog for April showed me that I can complete a challenge, so this month, I will be writing regularly and posting on this blog to let readers know about my journey, my frustrations, my successes (hopefully), and even setbacks.

What sort of story can I make of myself? I often wonder if I were a character in a book, would ‘she’ be a hero or villain? Would people care to follow along in her adventures? Does she even tackle her problems to overcome adversary and find her destination? That sort of shook me a bit.

No more excuses. Its go time! Carpe Diem! Tally-ho! And all that. I need to share more about my writer’s journey, and let my readers hop aboard to join in the ride.

I haven’t decided on details on how often to post, or what I’ll be posting exactly, but I will share more in future posts.

Wish me luck!

“Sharon mentally took inventory of the proper grammar, story lots, characters, and other tools she’d need on her journey. Time, creativity, and other abstracts intermingled with the inner editor, unceremoniously shoved into the inner pocket. His muffled protests went unnoticed, while the creative muse sat on the top, close to the ear, to whisper ideas and share her magic.

Taking a deep breath, the would-be author set fingers in the proper placement on the keyboard. “Let’s begin.” She whispered….”

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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!

Technorati Tags: writer’s block,activities,writer,authors,blog,snowflake method,novel,fiction

Writing from an opposite POV

“Write what you know” is one of the foremost writing tips you find out there. Naturally, its easier to write from your own point of view (POV), creating a character that shares your religion, political beliefs, and even the attitude. However, this can lead to redundancies to your characters. Every story ends up mirroring your personality rather than offering readers a fresh character with fresh stories.

Are you writing the same main character over and over? To shake things up, consider giving your character the opposite set of beliefs. This offers exploration to ‘the other side’, and perhaps even better understand issues. It leads to questioning our own biases, on how we perceive those who do not agree with our view.

A good example is the main character in The Vampire Diaries. I read that as a teen, and couldn’t stand the main character. She reminded me too much of the girls who picked on me in school. Now, as an adult, I find it interesting as to what leads a person to behave in such a way?

What weakness do they work from, to bully others, or feel an inflated ego? Exploring the psychology of school bullies, or nerds, or whatever type character you do not relate to, opens up a world of potential character depth.

Consider the qualities you posses, and pass on to the characters of your stories. Are you able to provide unique personality to him/her? Do side characters become 3-dimensional or do they fall into a stereotype to fill in the blanks, or offset the main character?

I’ve found my own characters that unnerved me, or took a life of their own and took the story in different directions. I played with one story where the main protagonist ended up switching personalities with his nemesis, thereby becoming an ‘a-hole’ as one reviewer put it. It left me exploring more of the antagonist and how he struggles with a new found conscience.

It was tremendously fun to write the changes in characters.

What do you think; do you ‘head-hop’ and shift personalities, or do you find characters end up being shades of your self? Post in comments.

Technorati Tags: novel,character,character development,fiction,fanfiction,psychology,writing

And lo, the word of the writing gods have spoken..

Found this over the weekend and thought I’d share. I find many authors have their own commandments, but these pretty much sum up the ones I agree with;

Source: johndufresne.com via Sharon on Pinterest

 

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Writer’s Group Anthology

The Writers of the Desert Rose Café recently published an anthologies of short stories.  I’m excited for them. This was something my own group considered doing but never reached its goal of compiling the stories.

These local authors gathered a number of short stories in a book encompassing many styles, and although I haven’t read it yet, it sells for only $2.99 for the Kindle.

What do a dozen plus people from different walks of life and with ages spanning five decades have in common?
They love to write.
This group, Writers of the Desert Rose Cafe, admits storytellers, novelists, playwrights, poets, and authors of children’s literature. One member specializes in autobiographical non-fiction. Another writes only 55-word shorties—stories with a beginning, middle, and end told in only 55 words. Others pen screenplays, blog articles, poetry, haiku, Christian fantasy, doomsday or science fiction, or murder mysteries. Several create solely for kids.
The group meets at the Desert Rose Cafe, a popular bohemian coffeehouse that serves karma by the cup, in historic Williamsport, MD.
This is the first anthology for the group.

Don’t worry if you don’t own a Kindle. You can still read the eBook via the Kindle app for Windows or Mac. Click here.

If you’re local in the area of Williamsport, MD, the Desert Rose Café serves up some tasty meals at low prices. The owners are friendly people who are more than happy to serve you.

You can order the book here;

WordPress Tags: desert rose cafe writers, authors, writer, published, short stories, anthology, fiction

The dread of NaNoWriMo

I haven’t decided if I will join in the many other writers for the National Novel Writing Month starting November 1st. It’s a grueling test of writing endurance; writing 1700 words a day, reaching 50,000 within one month’s time.

The pros include;

Sets word count goals. Even if you were to match half the word count, you may find you’re writing more than you did before.

Forces you to write through whatever writer’s block. I found it rather cathartic, at times, to write through issues such as style and creativity. The idea is that you can always edit and clean it up later.

Gives you a 50,000 word novel at the end of the month. You may find you’re ahead with chapters and word counts than if you didn’t join the contest.

The cons include;

The word count can be grueling. My hands ached from all the typing, which I tried to get out of the way in the early hours of the day. Some days I had to double the count due to setbacks or other issues, but I still managed to complete the novel.

You may not be entirely happy with results such as quality. I realized when it was completed that I wasn’t happy with the quality of the story at all. Despite plotting beforehand, I found the last third of the story took a life of its own. The characters took over and led me in other directions I didn’t like.

The 50,000 word count is more of a novella than novel. This is around 200 pages, and some publishing companies might not want to look at it. However, you will have the bulk done, ripe for the editing process, and you can add more details and scenes at that time.

And what do you get if you reach your goal? You get a printable certificate and a graphic to post on your web site or profile. I would also suggest giving yourself a reward, such as a new book, a cupcake, a trip to the spa, or whatever else you deem worthy of the feat.

 

Source: blog.grammarly.com via Sharon on Pinterest

 

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