Category: Writing Tips

Stuck at your keyboard for almost an hour, and you know what you want to write, should write, have to write, but nothing is coming?

The easiest thing to do is get up and get active. Get your brain going by taking a walk outside, or if weather won’t permit, trying tidying something. Something where your mind can wander (not watching TV or surfing the internet).

But set a time to get back to work. Whether you need a timer or just plan to walk a set distance.

Alternatively, setting up a good writing routine is key to any longform writing–like a novel. On occasion, I’ve started writing sessions with a walk around the block first.

I spend this time rehashing what has happened, what will happen, and try to think of the first words that’ll launch me into my writing session.

On days where I plan to write all day, I’ll schedule keyboard time. Every 20-30 minutes of typing, I’ll get up and do something. Whether it’s walking the trash out to the can, fixing hot tea, or walking to the mailbox.

Taking breaks is important.

I’ve always found that just trying to write everything I could all at once always exhausts me and makes it harder to sit down and write the next time.

Plus, you never know when you’ll see something on your walk that’d make a good bit for your story.

I’ve seen a lot of advice that says to come up with your characters first and then the story.

I practice the opposite.

I tend to come up with a concept or even just a scene to incite the adventure. But whatever that initial concept is, that’s what I develop first. there’s usually a clear path to any concept.

Thieves Plan Heist–>Heist Goes Wrong–>Thieves turn against each other

Once I know what I plan to write about, I invent the characters. Starting with the types I’d need. Then I go back through my plot and envision how these characters will react. This changes the story, but not the idea behind it.

Now that I know some of the scenarios, like what they might be stealing, and who from. I’ll think what would make this plot more interesting, and it’s always the characters.

So what if it’s a mother and daughter team and the daughter has always thought her mother was so cool because they live the wildlife without rules. And the mother is someone filled with great rules and quotes about life, who wouldn’t believe she has it all figured out?

A mother and daughter team of thieves planned a heist–>it goes wrong because the daughter hates her potential stepfather–>The daughter turns against them because they cross a line, killing a guard.

Pretty soon, the characters have taken over the story, and that’s when I have the most fun writing.

Maybe it doesn’t even get to the killing of the guard. Once I know the characters and drop them into a situation, once I know those characters, they’ll veer left or right. They’ll demand I change my carefully plotted outline.

And that’s where I have a lot of fun, when the characters come to life.

I actually find it incredibly hard to start with the characters first, because then I’m trying to come up with things to throw at them to keep them interested and interesting.

It’s probably why I have such a hard time writing sequels. The characters are already there . . .

I used to write in first person, almost exclusively. It was very hard when I attempted my first novel to switch to third person perspective so that I could juggle all the different characters and scenes.

But then I got my first notes back from friends and family. I was too omniscient, jumping from one character’s head to the next depending on the line (not chapter).

Luckily, I was steered in the correct path, and a few drafts later, I realized the benefits of THIRD PERSON LIMITED.

By choosing one character to write about in the third person, the reader can get into their head, look out from their eyes, yet also be standing away from them to see what happens.

The writing becomes similar to a suspense film, where the camera might not show you what is lurking off screen or just left of the frame. Your character can be surprised. Someone can stand behind them, and they can tell you how that felt. They can present the characters around them as they see them.

Now, jumping from who your third person limited perspective belongs to from chapter to chapter won’t be too distracting to a reader, and is nice because the change in point-of-view can shed details on this or that character whose head we were just in. How does this person really feel about the other?

Either way, if you haven’t tried THIRD PERSON LIMITED, give it a shot. I think it balances third person omniscient and first person perfectly.

There are two ways to complete this sentence and you’ve heard both before, I’m sure of it. Somewhere someone sometime gave you the advice to write what you . . .

A) KNOW

B) WANT

They are rather similar even if you don’t think so right away.

Writing what you ‘know’ isn’t writing about a wannabe author trapped in his room all day wishing he could be rich so that all he had to do was wake up and write.

What you ‘know’ isn’t the story. It’s what you bring to the story. Your knowledge of emotions. Your recollections of the details of a scene or facts you researched. That’s what you ‘know.’ All those things you’ve observed other people doing, all those aspects of a summer’s day. Those are the things you know.

And this goes hand-in-hand with writing what you ‘want.’

Writing what you want isn’t just pulling that story out of your imagination. It’s knowing how to pull it out of your imagination. It’s wanting to know how to write it. It’s knowing the details that’ll make your fantasy world feel real to your readers.

You should research, especially if you are writing about a topic that’s not plucked from your imagination. And if it sounds daunting to learn a new subject, then it’s probably not what you want to be writing anyways.

If you want to right it, learning what you need to know will come easily.

A character always feels more real, no matter how much time they show up in a story, if there’s something else going on in their life.

We see this sometimes in cop shows when a character is being questioned and they can’t stop working or they dismiss the police to get back to work. That’s a silly stupid trope. All it does is tell us you’ve seen a formulaic cop show before.

But the point of giving your characters a life outside of the story is that is further develops them in the reader’s mind. It’s SHOWING instead of TELLING.

Here’s a 4 of ways to create your character’s life outside your story without having to pause the plot:

URGENCY – Like the suspect that just has to get back to work, giving your character somewhere to be other than where they are, creates a sense that there is more to their story. It can tell a lot about a character if they’re about to miss their orthodontics procedure. Are they vain or do they have a serious health issue? Follow up with another clue to direct your reader as to which it is. Maybe he keeps touching his jaw.

FASCINATION – People get hung up on things, like not tipping properly at a restaurant, or maybe they love the L.A. Dodgers beyond reason. Grammar police? A character that interjects their fascination into whatever is going on helps define the character, it can be used to reinforce cliches or reject them.

SCARS – Like a fascination, scars are things that are likely to give pause to your character. If they’ve been burned by love, they’re going to hesitate jumping in with the next person they meet. ‘Scars’ don’t have to be but can be physical. They can hint at adventures of old or of lessons learned. A character with a bad elbow from baseball, might mean a failed dream career has forced him into this other lifestyle. Giving your character a past without a flashback is a great way to keep the plot moving.

RUMORS – What other people say about your character says a lot about them. An off-handed comment can end up meaning the world. “She prefers wine.” That line is placed in the reader’s head and if she parties too hard or shows signs of regrets (scars) perhaps she has a problem. If She is only fascinated with the finer things, it might lean her toward upscale living.  But you’ll need to place more clues throughout the story to further the rumor in the direction you want the reader to go.

Want more tips on Writing? There will be a new one every last Wednesday of Every Month.