10 Ways To Stop Worrying And Start Writing by Dara Girard Many people claim that they want to write. Most won't because of a giant monster called FEAR. It looms over individuals and paralyzes them. "What if I'm no good?" " What if I'm wasting my time?" 1) Handwrite. 2) Send yourself an email. 3) Commit before you're ready. 4) Write out the fears. 5) Pretend to be someone else. 6) Find a postcard. 7) Come up with a mantra that allows bad writing. 8) Remember you're reading the finished product. 9) Fear means you care. 10) Procrastinate. About the Author: Dara Girard is an award-winning author of romance and nonfiction who provides support and information for beginning and experienced writers, to help them keep going when things get tough, or when nothing seems to be happening.
The Review Review Story In the spring of 2008, I stopped submitting to literary magazines. As a fiction writer, trying to get my work published felt as futile and inconsequential as trying to write my name on a snowflake. I spent so much time sending work out and buying envelopes, printer ink, stamps, and paper only to receive one after another rejection letter, sometimes not even written on a full piece of paper but cut from the bottom third, as if rejection of my work were not even worth wasting a full page. Of course getting published is not easy and if it were, the rewards would not feel so valuable and hard-won. And I know that public recognition can take months, years, if not a lifetime or more. However, I also felt that there was something unsettling about this entire process. Worse, I was not the only writer like this. Wanting to get published in lit mags had started to feel like doing community service so that it would look good on your college application. At first, this discovery was comforting.
100 Mostly Small But Expressive Interjections David Bier Thanks for this – what a fun post considering there’s no actual narrative in it! Cecily Some of these interjections are quite culturally and age specific, so if people need to be told what they mean, they should probably not be using them.For example, to many Brits, va-va-voom is not old-fashioned at all, but instead is firmly linked to the long-running ads that footballer Thierry Henry made for the Renault Clio. Himanshu Chanda Whoa ! Quotations: Writers on Writing | Writer's Remorse I absolutely love it when writers write (or talk about) writing. Depending on what stage a writer is in the writing process, the writer’s quotes range from the devoted, to the confused, to the alcohol-dependent, and to the ultimately creative. In this short list of some of my favorite writer’s quotations about writing, I tried to leave out the mundane quotes and instead tried to include some of the more flavorful quotations about writing and the writing process. In most cases, the quotes seem to accurately represent the writers themselves. Stephen King: I am the literary equivalent of a Big Mac and fries.Ernest Hemingway: Write drunk, edit sober. Hunter S. Elmore Leonard: I try to leave out the parts that people skip. Isaac Asimov: If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn't brood. Moliere: A writer is congenitally unable to tell the truth and that is why we call what he writes fiction. William Faulkner: Writing is like prostitution. William S.
What I've Learned From 10 Years Of Writing & Independent Publishing It’s been a long time since the writing bug first bit me. Before I started blogging seriously, I had always been writing fiction. In 2nd grade I wrote my first short-story. (It was about a man who befriends a robot and subsequently quits his nerve-wracking office-job because now the robot does everything from cleaning the dishes to wearing his tie… At least that’s what I can remember of it…) Until this day, the euphoria of writing, the magic of seeing people, places and ideas pop into existence, word after word has stayed with me. Nevertheless, during my adolescence years I quickly became aware of another, less comforting feeling. Get Published Or Die Trying As a teenager I used to print out stories and give them to my family and friends. Circulation was obviously limited. Parallel to that, I created a little webpage and uploaded the stories there, too. Also I used to send out stuff to a few publishing houses. They agreed. After it was all through, I could finally go back to writing. 1. 2. 3.
Researching Literary Agents There are hundreds of reasons an agent will pass on your pitch—doesn’t connect with your story, not currently looking for clients, reps thrillers and you submitted a romance, is a Red Sox fan and refuses to rep a Yankees fan, etc. Your goal is to find agents most suited toward your writing to minimize the reasons they will pass. When I was ready to pitch OH BOY, YOU’RE HAVING A GIRL to agents, I didn’t have time to waste. I spent hours researching agents using Writer’s Market and the Guide to Literary Agents and doing follow-up legwork on the Internet. 1. Some agents are always accepting new clients. 2. If you ask an agent what’s the number one reason he or she rejects a query letter, most will say the same thing: The author pitched a genre that I don’t represent. [Did you know there are 7 reasons writing a novel makes you a badass? 3. Contract negotiations are where agents excel. 4. Good luck with your agent search!
How to Eliminate "To-Be" Verbs in Writing Every English teacher has a sure-fire revision tip that makes developing writers dig down deep and revise initial drafts. One of my favorites involves reducing the number of “to-be-verbs”: is, am, are, was, were, be, being, and been. At this point, even before I begin to plead my case, I hear the grumbling of the contrarians. One of them mutters a snide, rhetorical question: Didn’t Shakespeare say “To be, or not to be: that is the question:”? What’s So Wrong with “To-Be” Verbs? 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Adapted from Ken Ward’s E-Prime article at Problem-Solving Strategies to Eliminate the “To-Be” Verb 1. 2. 3. 4. A Teaching Plan to Eliminate the “To-Be” Verb 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. After teaching and practicing all four strategies, set the “rule” that from now on only one “to-be” verb is allowed in any paragraph (excluding direct quotes). Also see How to Teach Helping Verbs for similar strategies to improve student writing.
25 Things Every Writer Should Know An alternate title for this post might be, “Things I Think About Writing,” which is to say, these are random snidbits (snippets + tidbits) of beliefs I hold about what it takes to be a writer. I hesitate to say that any of this is exactly Zen (oh how often we as a culture misuse the term “Zen” — like, “Whoa, that tapestry is so cool, it’s really Zen“), but it certainly favors a sharper, shorter style than the blathering wordsplosions I tend to rely on in my day-to-day writing posts. Anyway. Peruse these. Absorb them into your body. Feel free to disagree with any of these; these are not immutable laws. Buckle up. 1. The Internet is 55% porn, and 45% writers. 2. A lot of writers try to skip over the basics and leap fully-formed out of their own head-wombs. 3. 4. I have been writing professionally for a lucky-despite-the-number 13 years. 5. Luck matters. 6. Nobody becomes a writer overnight. 7. Your journey to becoming a writer is all your own. 8. 9. 10. Value is a tricky word. 11. 12.
Using Real Psychology in Your Writing Using Real Psychology in Your Writing Using Archetypes in Your Stories Writing Better Romantic Relationships This series looks at the Anima/Animus archetype, which is most often seen in romantic relationships, and how to use it to create more compelling romantic relationships, regardless of genre. Creating Better Antagonists Three-Dimensional Villains: Finding Your Character’s Shadow - Using Jungian archetypes and hands-on exercises, this article teaches fiction writers to tap their own dark sides to create realistic villains who will really challenge the hero/es and keep tension high. - by Carolyn Kaufman, PsyD The Other in Fiction: Creating Wonderfully Wicked Villains - The kinds of villains that keep us riveted to a story tap the darkest aspects of the human heart; learn about what those aspects are and how to use them in your fiction. - by Carolyn Kaufman, PsyD Forensic Psychology
LitReactor Kurt Vonnegut -- troubling.info Eight rules for writing fiction: 1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted. 2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. -- Vonnegut, Kurt Vonnegut, Bagombo Snuff Box: Uncollected Short Fiction (New York: G.P. Kurt Vonnegut: How to Write with Style
WRITERS ON WRITING; Easy on the Adverbs, Exclamation Points and Especially Hooptedoodle 3. Never use a verb other than ''said'' to carry dialogue. The line of dialogue belongs to the character; the verb is the writer sticking his nose in. 4. . . . he admonished gravely. 5. You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose. 6. This rule doesn't require an explanation. 7. Once you start spelling words in dialogue phonetically and loading the page with apostrophes, you won't be able to stop. 8. Which Steinbeck covered. 9. Unless you're Margaret Atwood and can paint scenes with language or write landscapes in the style of Jim Harrison. And finally: 10. A rule that came to mind in 1983. My most important rule is one that sums up the 10. If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it. Or, if proper usage gets in the way, it may have to go. What Steinbeck did in ''Sweet Thursday'' was title his chapters as an indication, though obscure, of what they cover. Did I read the hooptedoodle chapters? Writers on Writing www.nytimes.com/arts Continue reading the main story
20 Basic Plots For Story Generators - Software Secret Weapons The 20 Basic Plots are collected by the Tennessee Screenwriting Association . 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. (Note: Sometimes #19 & #20 are combined into rags-to-riches-to-rags (or vice versa) of a Protagonist who does (or doesn't) learn to deal with their dominating character trait). Looking At People Through Their Words illustrates the use of artificial intelligence and data mining for text analysis. Having the right merchant account and hosting including providers of dedicated servers which can also provide data recovery is the key the maximum uptime for your website.
Grammar Rules: Split Infinitives Q: I was taught by my English teachers over the years not to split infinitives, but now I see writers splitting them all the time. What gives? —Anonymous Growing up, I also had many teachers who taught me not to split infinitives—just as they taught me not to start a sentence with a conjunction. But, as with the conjunction myth, there is actually no rule that says you can’t split infinitives. An infinitive is a verb form that generally involves two words, the first of which is usually “to”—to run, to write, to somersault, to tickle, etc. The most famous of all split infinitives comes from the Star Trek gang: “to boldly go where no man has gone before.” While you may find some grammar style guides that recommend against it (Garner’s Modern American Usage is one), you’ll be hard-pressed to find any that completely and wholeheartedly ban it. I know what you’re thinking: If this isn’t a rule, then why do so many teachers treat it as such?