- First and foremost you need a writing space that you can spread out on. A desk, laptop, notebooks ( If your like me) pens, highlighters, reference books, smartphone. Some of the items I find necessary
- Writing software ~~ I use open office for my final drafts, and ywriter for creating my first draft and story ideas, characters, project ideas, quotes I want to use etc. This software allows you to put together your novel or project chapter by chapter, and each chapter is broken up into scenes so you can work on one section at a time. If you are particularly stuck, what I like to do is think up a scene I want in my novel, and begin with that. Starting with a Piece you are going to enjoy writing will get your creative juices flowing for sure. You can also flesh out your characters and their backstory with this software which is extremely helpful, you always need to know far more about your characters than what you will actually end up using. It will make them far more believable. You can get ywriter free online.
- As above, chop your chapter into scenes within that chapter so you are writing one scene at a time, allowing your chapter to develop naturally and come together with less effort.
- When I'm stuck on a chapter or scene, I use Why? What? Where? To progress it naturally, as in why did she/he say that? Where were they when they said it? What could happen next? This usually does the trick and moves the story along.
- If I still find things feel a little forced, I simply do a few menial housework chores. Washing up, dusting, hovering, and think about my characters at the point of the story I left off. I envision what they are doing, and saying and use the Why? What? Where method. Especially with dialogue. For example my character says something and I play the conversation in my head, 9 times out of 10 the conversation flows naturally in my mind and the characters do the talking for me. Always let your characters speak to you. Imagine what would naturally come next if you were having tat conversation with someone. Bearing in mind your characters personality, and traits of course.
- Before you start any project, make sure your characters are the first thing you create. As I said earlier flesh out their backgrounds first. Consider emotional wounds within their backstories. eg. were involved in a house fire, drug or alcohol issues, sexual abuse, giving reasons why a character may be a certain way, so when the reader discovers this they can empathise with the character.
- Don't make the mistake of describing your character physically in one lump. It makes your flow choppy and is unnecessary Let small details out as you go along
- You don't necessarily have to know what comes next before you sit down to write it. Personally a lot of the time, I only know what's happening from chapter to chapter, although I do have a basic plot outline in mind : beginning, middle, end. I then fill in the gaps chapter by chapter, scene by scene.
- Have a few really great scenes mapped out in your head before you begin. This will give you an important starting point when you are struggling to begin, and you will find that when you start writing them, the story will begin to flow and almost write itself.
- I take a notebook with me everywhere! Especially beside the bed when I go up to bed at night. I find the best ideas hit me when I am distracted, or get inspired by people's conversations etc. I adore real notebooks, and can't own enough of them but I also have onenote, and evernote on my phone so I can take notes from where ever I am. They are both free too and you can have unlimited notebooks so can have one for each story, or even for each character if you like even more added back story.
~~~ Coming up : " Gateway to hell chapter 3, why my daughter decided to be the incredible hulk, and story extract from a talented fantasy writer.
Thanks for tuning in. x
No comments:
Post a Comment