As the page title says, this is a page of writerly things. I’ll include tips & tricks that I’ve found useful while working on various projects. Use what works for you and ignore what doesn’t. Every writer has his/her own style, so not everything that works for one writer will work for another. As with any other thing we do, you learn as you go, constantly improve upon your craft. You’re writing will also change and redefine itself over the years. My writing today isn’t anything like my writing when I first started, and that’s okay. Change is just part of the game.
Please keep in mind, I DO NOT PLOT. I’ve tried and it’s a style that just does not work for me. I sit with a blank page (if working on something new) and just start typing the first thing that comes to mind. That’s how The Drigon’s Fall came about, though in all honesty, I started mid-story (when the ship crashes) and then went back and filled in the beginning later. That’s just how it works out sometimes.
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Note taking:
I have found that jotting down key facts while working, saves a lot of skimming and hair pulling later on. It’s very easy to forget what eye or hair color you gave a certain character, and writing that down when you first come to it makes it easier to double check at a later time. I’ve been guilty of the mysteriously changing hair/eye color on occasion, which fortunately my editor caught before it was released to the masses.
Notes can also help with spellings of names, places and objects, especially if they are things you’ve made up. There are lots of ways note taking can come in handy, so keep a small memo pad or, my personal favorite, index cards close at hand.
World Building:
I’ve learned the hard way, thanks to the Hunters for Hire series, that building a world before you start writing on a series you’ve developed is very important. Granted, there are some things you just can’t think of until you’re actually writing a story, but at least get the basic backbone down where they can be easily accessed later in order to maintain consistency and continuity in the series. Other things that can come in handy with world building are maps (I’m not that great an artist, but the H4H map is meant to be useful, not beautiful), list of powers & weaknesses if writing a supernatural type book, race/species descriptions, and the like. You don’t necessarily have to worry about the finer details at first, but you do want to have a basic layout of how your world looks and feels as well as who and what inhabits your world.
Writer’s Block:
Suffering from the dreaded writer’s block? I have a few ways to combat that (again, these work for me but may not for you) horrid beast. These can also work for figuring out which way you want a scene to go or how you want it to play out.
Hand writing: Yep, I go through a great deal of paper and I’ve drained more than my fair share of ink pens. For me, this helps to get the words flowing when all I’m doing is staring at that awful little blinking cursor on the screen. It gets you away from the laptop/computer, allowing you to roam while thinking. Perhaps it’s the fact you have to be more careful of what you write on the page with ink since there’s no delete or backspace buttons that makes this method work so well, maybe not. I just know that, for me, it works like a charm.
Day dreaming: Okay, it sounds a bit silly maybe, but just kicking back, closing your eyes, and letting your imagination run free seems to get the kinks out of whatever you have going on in your story. Play with the characters a bit. Try them in several different situations, then try to figure out where you want them to go from the last place you were in their story. Who knows? You just might day dream your way into something even better than you originally had planned out.
Switching gears: If all else fails, walk away from the blocked story for a bit. Either work on another WIP or open up a new word processing page and start typing away on something new. Don’t think about the blocked story. Give your mind a chance to rest, relax from the stress of being blocked, and you might be surprised how easy it is to pick that story back up the next day or even a few days later.
Problem Words:
Problem words can be interpreted in many ways. I’ll cover two different ways here.
The Overused Words: We all have those pesky little words that we love and tend to overuse. When going back over a story by proofing or editing it, make a note of those little words you see yourself overusing. Write them on index cards and tape them to the wall or desk or something where you can see them and remind yourself NOT to use them. My overused words? That and Just, though I’m working on cutting down how often they pop up in a manuscript.
Confusing Words: (example: affect/effect) This is where notes from an editor or CP can come in very handy. If they are constantly marking a word you’ve used wrong, make a note of it. After you know which words you’re having issues with, get out those handy index cards and write out each word (the wrong one and the right one) and their definitions on those cards. Then you just do as you did with the overused words, tape or tack them up some where you can see them. Just remember to look at the cards while working.
When in doubt, look it up. Better safe than sorry, IMO. These same methods can be used in the following cases as well: Wrong Word/Right Spelling and Commonly Misspelled Words (commonly as in your frequently misspell them). Don’t depend on spell check to catch all your spelling mistakes, because some misspellings are still words—those words just happen to be the wrong choice.
Active/Passive Voice:
Watch your verb usage. Element was in every instance you can, though at times, it is necessary to use it. However, you want to use it as few times as possible. This is what I’m currently working on improving in my own writing.
Examples:
Instead of — He was going to the store. Try — He went to the store.
See where I’m going with that? A more detailed explanation of this can be found here.
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Links to Writing Related Posts:
Location, Location, Locations – the book setting
Isn’t It Romantic? – writing sex scenes
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And I think that’s a good place to stop for now. I’ll add more at a later date. Also, be sure to check out the Hunters for Hire Info page as it contains links to previous blog posts that you may also find handy when it comes to writing, especially when it comes to writing a series.
