August 2009 Archives - Write to Done

SOLVED: The Outlining vs. Organic Writing Debate

shouting

by Larry Brooks

Writing is a two party democracy. To the left are those who write stories from their heart, or according to the other side of the aisle, from the seat of their pants. On the right are those who write stories from a meticulously constructed outline.

Sprinkle in a few moderates who dabble in both, and you pretty much cover the gamut of how writers get stories out of their heads and onto a page.

The two sides don’t talk to each other much. At least about writing.

The debate rages on.

Organic writers claim outlining robs them of spontaneity and creativity, that the only way a story can come alive is to discover the characters and allow them to set the course of the story. To listen to them.

Outliners, for better or worse, think that’s just insane.

The discussion divides a room quicker than politics and sexual preferences.

How can you craft a story that foreshadows and builds toward a delicious ending, say the outliners, without knowing what that ending even is?

How can you keep a story fresh and spontaneous, say the organic writers, if you’re merely painting words over a previously constructed outline? What if you get a better idea along the way?

The answer to both arguments is… you can’t. At least not until you bring the principles of story architecture to the table before you write the story.

And then, outline or no outline, all things become possible.

To outline or not to outline… that’s the wrong question.

The issue isn’t about outlining. The issue is simply the degree of foundational story architecture awareness that a writer brings to their process.

Without story architecture, both processes ultimately fail. Stories will come out convoluted, one dimensional, poorly paced and ultimately rejected.

With story architecture in the mix, the story emerges as a well-oiled machine. The only question then becomes: is your story compelling, or not?

Because even story architecture can’t save a bad idea or weak execution. Even if you outline it to death. You can lead a horse to engineering school, but you can’t make him an artist.
The dark side of organic storytelling.
Many organic writers – those who just start writing without an awareness of how their story will flow or turn out, which is the every definition of compromised story architecture – use the drafting process to discover their characters and the story’s structure, rather than beginning with those elements in their toolchest.

In other words, they’re searching for story architecture as they go.

But story architecture is universal. The principles apply to every story.

If a writer understands basic story architecture, organic drafting becomes an efficient and joyful process. If they don’t, it’s an exercise in frustration, something they may not even understand until the rejection slips arrive.

You wouldn’t fly an airplane without knowing how an airplane flies. You wouldn’t slice open an abdomen without understanding basic surgical procedures.

And yet, this is precisely what some writers do with their stories.
The hidden infrastructure of stories.
As much as some organic writers don’t like to admit it, there is indeed a basic architecture for successful stories, with specific milestones that must appear at quite precise places. Successful organic writers understand this, which means that as their stories pour unrestrained out of their heads onto the page, they do so in alignment with those principles.

Outliners who construct story blueprints without that same awareness suffer the same fate. Their manuscripts are merely fruitions of a broken structure, and while they may get to a “final” draft before their more organic counterparts, it’ll be just as lacking in what publishers are looking for.
The elusive magic pill of storytelling.
On a more half-full note, bringing a keen understanding of story architecture to your writing process is more than empowering, it’s essential.

To write a successful story, you can’t wing it and expect to get to the promised land. That doesn’t mean you need an outline, it means you need a foundational core competency in story architecture. No matter how you write.

Once you have it, you can wing it all you want. Your stories will come out in the right sequence with proper pacing. Or, you can get there by constructing outlines that yield stories in which everything is in the right place at the right time.

How you get there is up to you. If you get there is up to your grasp of the principles story architecture.

Outlining is optional. Story architecture isn’t. Debate over.

Larry Brooks is a bestselling author, writing teacher and the creator of Storyfix . His latest ebook is “101 Slightly Unpredictable Tips for Novelists and Screenwriters,” and is available on his site.

Image: jeff mcneill

Categories: Craft, Fiction

Five Ways to Build the Writing Habit

writing-habit

A guest post by Ali Hale

Whether you’re just starting out with writing, or whether you’re a seasoned pro picking up your pen again after a dry spell, you might have discovered just how daunting that blank page can be. Sitting down and putting words on paper (or on a computer screen) can be a huge effort. No wonder writers find themselves engaging in displacement activities: checking emails, Twittering, even the housework can seem more attractive than writing.

Over several years of writing fiction and non-fiction, I’ve found that writing really is a habit. If I write every day (or at least most days), I find the words flowing easily; if I take a writing vacation for a few weeks, it’s much harder to get back into writing.

Here are some ways you can help yourself build the writing habit:

1. Write Something Each Day

One of the most common tips from established authors to aspiring authors is to “write every day”. This is powerful advice: a daily action quickly becomes established in your routine, and, if you’re working on a book or other long project, writing every day helps build momentum.

You might have days when you’re burnt out, exhausted, or hectically busy. That’s fine. Even if you can only manage a single sentence, just write something every day.

2. Set Yourself Targets

There’s no one right way to set yourself writing targets: different authors like different methods. You might want to consider a couple of things, though:
1. Published authors have deadlines – and, as any student pulling an all-nighter knows, deadlines are a great way of concentrating the mind. So why not set yourself a firm completion date for your current work in progress?
2. Give yourself a daily target. Some writers have a word target (eg. 500 words per day), others prefer to write for a set period of time (eg. half an hour). Try both, and see which works best for you.
If you don’t have any sort of deadline or target, it’s easy to put off writing until another day. Try posting your targets near your desk, so that you’ll see them while you’re working, or keep track of your progress using a blog, Facebook or Twitter.

3. Join a Writers’ Circle or Group

I’ve been a member of several different writers’ groups over the past decade. Without exception, they’ve encouraged me to write more, and they’ve helped me to improve my writing immensely. Meeting regularly with other writers, and sharing work-in-progress, can motivate you to finish and polish pieces to submit to the group.

Most writing groups focus on fiction and/or poetry: if you’re a non-fiction writer, you may be able to find or form a group with similar interests, though.

If you’ve got the money and time to devote to it, an evening course or a creative writing or journalism degree is a powerful way to give writing a priority in your life. With assignments and group workshops, you’ll find that you pretty much have to get into the writing habit!

4. Keep a Notebook With You

This is another piece of popular advice – carry a notebook. This isn’t just in case you have a great idea whilst in the car or out for a walk: I find that I’m rarely struck with inspiration out of the blue, but that little scraps of time (waiting for trains, standing in line at the post office) can be fruitfully used to brainstorm.

If you’re really short on time, scribbling in a notebook whenever you end up waiting around somewhere can squeeze at least a few minutes of writing into each day.

5. Call Yourself a Writer

Many beginning and even established writers are reluctant to call themselves “a writer”. We often feel that we should be earning money or writing professionally in order to use the title. In reality, though, a writer is simply someone who writes! You’re a writer, so use your title with pride – don’t wait until you’ve got that book deal or even that first paid gig.

Calling yourself a writer isn’t just about having something interesting to say at parties. If you regularly introduce yourself to people as a writer, you’ll become more and more comfortable with this identity. Plus, you’ll feel more motivated to write (after all, that’s what writers do)

Have you got the writing habit – or are you still on your way to making writing a regular focus in your life?

Ali Hale is a freelance writer, and is studying for a postgraduate degree in creative writing. She writes for a number of blogs, including her own recently-launched Aliventures.

Categories: Craft, Habits

5 Reasons Your Story Stinks (and How to Air It Out)

Bad Smell highres

A guest post by Suzannah Windsor Freeman

There’s no denying it.

Your latest story stinks. It’s rotten. A monkey could have written something more coherent.
Maybe you thought it was great while you were writing it, but after some cooling-off time you recognized its sub-mediocrity.

Worse: perhaps someone else read your story and told you it was fit for compost.
Where did you go wrong? Why is your writing odoriferous, and how can you fix it?

Poo-poo Plot

Imagine you’re trying to describe a book to someone, but all you can think of is, “It’s one of those books where nothing happens.”

There’s a trend these days–in both short stories and novels–to write down a rambling road without a plot in mind.

That isn’t to say works can’t be more introspective than plot-based. Sometimes the ‘happenings’ occur within a character, rather than externally. However, if you didn’t have a clear course of action mapped out before you began writing, your story might stink because its plot is poopy.

Think diapers.

There’s also a possibility that your plot is no good because:

It’s just plain boring
The stakes aren’t high enough
It’s totally unbelievable
It only appeals to a very small audience

In all likelihood, if your plot lacks power, the reason lies in poor planning.

Clammy Characters

There’s something fishy about your story. The characters… well, they don’t seem to think, behave or talk like real human beings.

Stop and take a close look at the stars of your story:

Are they well developed?
Do they have believable motivations?
Do your characters speak using credible dialogue?
Are there so many characters your reader can’t distinguish between them?
Will people easily identify with them and their problems?

It’s irrelevant how gripping your plot is, if the characters who carry that plot aren’t real enough to speak to the reader.

Putrid Pacing

Pacing a story is a real art. You need a beginning, middle and end, but making sure you don’t linger too long at any given point is tricky.

When you read your manuscript, do you notice it takes forever to get to the important stuff? Or, perhaps, there’s a bomb on every page and you quickly tire of too many major events close together.

Ask yourself:

Have I given enough background information on my characters or crucial information about their situations? Have I given too much?
Did I foreshadow all major events?
Does my conclusion come too quickly after the story’s climax, or does it drag on too long afterward?
Have I created a great enough number of significant events to carry the story from the inciting incident to the climax?

Like plotting, pacing benefits from being organized and having a plan ahead of time.

Loathsome Language

Have you ever opened a book, read the first paragraph, and then scoffed at the lack of thought put into the language?

Remind you of your own story? Consider the following:

Do you use the same words too often?
Are you going ‘thesaurus-happy’ trying to find new vocabulary?
Do you spend too much time describing things or people?
Have you overused adjectives and adverbs?
Is your language too frilly for your story? Too sparse?
Have you resorted to using cliches?
Does it all just sound lazy?

Remember, a story is only as good as the words with which it’s told.

Sweaty Similes & Malodorous Metaphors

Try teaching a high school writing class and, inevitably, you’ll come across some rather interesting ideas of what makes a great simile or metaphor.

It isn’t uncommon to read vain attempts such as, ‘”Her eyes sparkled like a silver spoon,” or, “The clouds were cotton balls dancing through the sky.”

When you use literary techniques in your writing, do they make sense? Do they add to the richness or meaning of the text? After all, cotton balls don’t usually dance, and having one’s eyes compared to a spoon is hardly a compliment.

Better to use plain, direct language to get one’s point across than trying to force creativity down its throat.

How to Come Up Smelling Like Roses

Now that your nose has been offended by all that sniffing through your manuscript, you should have a fair idea of why your story stinks.

To avoid similar problems in the future, remember the following 5 key ways to improve your writing:

Careful Organization: Great plots don’t just happen along the way–they should be planned before you ever start writing. The initial time taken to plan major story events and essential elements will save you time spent revising.
Memorable Characters: Create well-developed characters with strong motivations so your reader will identify with them. Pay special attention to dialogue, ensuring it’s clearer and more direct than the way we speak normally, but still flows in a believable manner.
Appropriate Pacing: Pace your story so points are neither belaboured or rushed. Get to the inciting incident as soon as possible and make sure there’s a pleasing combination of action and repose throughout the text.
Logical Word Choice: Choose your words carefully and economically. Be strict about extra frills, using them only when highly appropriate. Employ more efficient and effective language.
Sensible Creativity: Avoid cliches–they’re the lazy way out of having to think. If you use similes and metaphors, they must be original, make sense, and add to the story (rather than detract from it).

Stick to these guidelines, and you’ll never have to catch another whiff of your own writing-stench again.

You can read more by Suzannah on her blog Write It Sideways

Photo Credit: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/180344

Categories: Craft, Fiction

8 Valuable Lessons Newspapers Must Learn From Bloggers to Survive

The news has been democratized.

By Leo Babauta

It’s not news that the news industry is changing rapidly, and the traditional newspaper and magazine industry is in a whole mess of trouble.

Newspapers are losing readers at an alarming rate to online reading — and readers are reading not only newspapers, but blogs and many other types of sites.

Newspapers are trying to find a model for making money online, but they’re not learning fast enough, not adapting fast enough. Online ads can’t support them, because now the monopoly for publishing news and commentary has been broken, and advertising has been spread out among thousands and thousands of sites.

How can the newspaper industry adapt? Well, they’ll either have to figure that out quickly, or they’ll die.

As a former journalist and editor at a Gannett-owned newspaper, I have some thoughts — things I’ve learned from my career as a blogger at Zen Habits.

1. Smaller is better. Newspapers can’t survive on online ads not because it’s an impossible model for publishing — I do it at Zen Habits and many other blogs and smaller news sites do it. They can’t survive on online ads because they’re too huge. Not only do they have a newsroom of journalists and editors, but they have copy editors, layout editors, graphic artists, photographers, managing editors and more. And that’s just the newsroom — one small part of a newspaper company. There’s also advertising, production (the presses and so on), circulation (the delivery of newspapers), accounting, the IT department, human resources, and overall management (the publisher, president, vice president, staff, etc.).

There is no way an organization that huge can survive on online ads, especially now that the news monopoly has been broken. The solution isn’t to charge more, but to become smaller. If a newspaper transitions to an only online edition, it can get rid of its printing presses and printing sections. Smaller can mean they get rid of large parts of accounting and HR and management and so on. Basically, everyone should be involved in actually producing content, with perhaps a small amount of ad sales staff. Smaller is better — with a small news team, you can produce great content and live on much less. More on this below.

2. If you charge, people won’t come. Readers are used to reading things for free. Sure, they’ll pay a couple dollars for an entire issue of a newspaper, but who reads the entire newspaper online every day? Now we just read a couple articles that are interesting, and move on to other sites. If the other sites are free, why should we keep coming back if you start to charge us? Not only that, but the biggest sources of traffic and growth come not from regular readers but from links from other blogs and news sites, social media, email, and social networks such as Twitter and Facebook … and if you erect a pay wall, no one will be able to link to you! You’ll die a slow but inevitable death.

3. If you charge, others will offer it for free. The Wall Street Journal and a couple of other business news sites are getting away with charging because the business crowd doesn’t mind paying for access to up-to-the-minute business information. It’s just a regular expense, a part of doing business. However … that won’t work forever. Eventually other sites will come up that offer information that’s just as good, but free. These sites will be smaller, and at first won’t have as much credibility. But as people migrate to them — because they’re free, and the information is the same — they’ll start to build up some credibility, and then WSJ will be in real trouble. The same will be true for others who charge for access to information — people will eventually get it somewhere else, because that’s an opportunity for someone to create a business based on giving the information away for free. They’ll be ad supported, sure, but if they’re smaller they’ll be able to live on that.

4. You’ve got competition now. This is just an extension of No. 3 above, but expanded: in the old days, you only competed against other major news media. That’s no longer the case. Now, lots of people are publishing news — including everyday people who post news to Twitter, right when news is happening, as eye-witnesses. Now lots of people write commentary (granted: sometimes too many). Now there’s competition everywhere for people’s interest and attention. So you’re going to need to step it up — you can’t do things the old way. Figure out what your competitive advantages are (more on this below), and use them to your advantage. We still need you to be a government watchdog, we still need your in-depth reporting, but perhaps some of the things you’re doing that have been replaced by new competitors (such as Craigslist or weather services and the like) can be dropped.

5. Your main asset is credibility, not money or size. The difference between you and a blog isn’t the writing, or how fast you get the news, or how big you are, or even how deep your pockets are … but how much people trust you. This trust is huge, actually, because it means when others might break the news before you, people will still want you to confirm that it’s true. Whatever you do, don’t lose that trust. Use it to your advantage. Blogs are building that trust as we speak, and if you break the trust in any way, you’ll lose everything.

6. You’ve got the skills — but you need to adapt. One of my advantages when I started blogging was that I was a journalist by training, which isn’t required for blogging by any means — most of the best bloggers were never journalists and many journalists aren’t good bloggers. But I had some skills that translate well in the online world — writing fairly clear and concise articles, for example, and using bullet points and other devices to make it easier for readers to find the essential information, and headline writing, and research. You’ve got those skills and more — but they don’t translate exactly to blogging. You need to learn blogging, and the online world, and really participate in it and understand it, so that your skills can be adapted to the new demands of readers. Part of that is that you need to connect with them (see next item), and you also need to learn community and new forms of writing that are foreign to journalism. You’ll also need to forget division of labor — everyone needs to produce content, and everyone needs to be able to handle tech and business.

7. Connect with readers and bloggers, don’t snub them. Blogs have succeeded in part because we are a community, and a large discussion. Readers can connect with bloggers in ways they never connected with journalists — the best journalists have always been (and mostly still are) in ivory towers, looking down on the reading public and barely accessible but through letters to the editor (and more recently, email). But readers can instantly communicate with bloggers, and the best bloggers talk back, are part of the discussion. And bloggers connect with each other — we have giant conversations through our blogs and Twitter, link to each other, not just to our own articles. You need to become social, in the new sense of the word — not just in going to community functions and press conferences.

8. Become lean and distributed. Having a huge building full of employees and equipment is unsupportable these days. The best bloggers work from home, or from coffee shops. We have no huge building, because we couldn’t afford it. Let your reporters work from home or from the road, with a laptop, and you remove the need for an office. Learn to collaborate online, to do business online. Let readers become news gatherers, and give them a voice and a channel for putting out the news. Let the community be your sources, in a new and exciting way, and you’ll need fewer employees.

What does all this mean for the employees of newspapers? It means you’ll need to learn new ways of working, and that some of your will be laid off, inevitably — either because the newspaper purposely leans down, or because it will go out of business. For the sake of our society, I hope the best newspapers don’t go out of business, that they learn to be leaner. But many employees will be out of work — and that’s OK. You’ll start your own blogs and websites and go into competition with your former employer, as I have. And you’ll love every minute of it.

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If you liked this article, please share it on del.icio.us, Twitter or StumbleUpon. I’d appreciate it. :)

Categories: Business, Journalism

The (Nearly) Ultimate Resource: 176 Tips for Writers

By Mary Jaksch

A couple of weeks ago I asked you, “What helps you to become a better writer?” You put forward 73 tips. Then I went to Copyblogger and showed the Write to Done list of tips to their readers. I called the post 73 Way to Become a Better Writer. Folks over there were pretty enthusiastic about the list and started adding to it. 981 Tweets later the list had grown to 176.

Today I’m bringing it back to Write to Done. Can we grow it to 200?

1. Become a blogger.

2. Use self-imposed word limits.

3. Accept all forms of criticism and learn to grow from it.

4. Read what you’ve written over and over, until I can’t find any more problems.

5. Show what you write to a trusted friend for feedback

6. Outline. And then write to that outline

7. Edit, and edit again

8. Live with passion.

9. Be open, curious, present, and engaged.

10. Take a break between writing and editing.

11. Learn a new word a day.

12. Get the pen and fingers moving

13. Write in different genres: blog posts, poems, short stories, essays.

14. Read grammar books.

15. Write without distractions.

16. Challenge yourself: write in a crowded cafe, write on the toilet, write for 24 hours straight.

17. Take a trip. Road trips, beach trips, bus trips, plane trips.

18. Watch movies. Can you write the story better?

19. Write. And then write more.

20. Read, think, read, write, ponder, write – and read some more.

21. Read your stuff aloud to anyone who can stand it – including the cat.

22. Go back and cut 10% from your word count.

23. Talk to people.

24. Listen to how people talk.

25. Read many books. The good and the shitty ones.

26. Make notes of your (fleeting) brilliant ideas.

27. Start your writing ahead of time – not hours before a deadline.

28. Listen to podcasts on writing tips

29. Use simple, declarative sentences.

30. Avoid passive voice.

31. Limit your use of adjectives and adverbs.

32. When in doubt, cut it out.

33. Kill clunky sentences.

34. Be inspired by other art forms – music, dance, sculpture, painting.

35. Read your old stuff and acknowledge how far you’ve come – and how far you have to go.

36. Write for publication, even if it’s only for the local newsletter or a small blog.

37. Make writing your priority in the morning

38. Keep squeezing words out even if when you feel uninspired.

39. Say to everyone: “I’m a writer.”

40. Recognize your fear and overcome it.

41. Let your articles rest and then return to them with fresh eyes.

42. Comment on your favorite blogs.

43. Keep a journal to keep the writing juices flowing.

44. Use a journal to sort out your thoughts and feelings.

45. Keep it simple.

46. Practice monotasking. Set a timer for uninterrupted writing.

47. Watch people.

48. Get to know someone different from you and reflect on the experience.

49. Try new ideas or hobbies – the more variety you have in your life, the more likely you are to keep on generating good ideas on the page.

50. Read works from different cultures. It helps keep your writing from tasting stale in the mouths of your readers.

51. Rethink what is ‘normal’.

52. Work on brilliant headlines.

53. Check if your assumptions are right.

54. Join a writing group. If you can’t find one, form one.

55. Write during your most productive hours of the day.

56. Designate time to research.

57. Take time to muse and mindmap.

58. Map out a writing schedule for your project and stick to it.

59. Ask someone else to proofread.

60. Read Zinsser’s “On Writing Well” at least once a year.

61. Break out of your comfort zone.

62. Write at the scene. If you want to write about a beach, get a picnic rug and go write by the sea.

63. Go to the supermarket, the ball game, the class room, the building site. Make notes of the sensuous details, the atmosphere, the people.

64. Start with metaphors and stories.

65. Approach writing with gratitude, not just with a ‘must do this’ attitude.

66. Deconstruct and analyze books and articles you enjoy.

67. Know about story architecture. Many writers don’t. Which is like doing heart surgery or flying and airliner by intuition. Survival rates are low.

68. Socialize with other writers.

69. Stretch or exercise in between writing.

70. Make a note of ideas for further development before you leave a piece for tomorrow.

71.Use mindmaps for inspiration.

72. Take risks – don’t be afraid to shock. You are not who you think you are.

73 Read Stepen King’s “On Writing”

74 Keep a copy of ‘Strunk and White’ within arm’s reach.

75 Keep a journal specially for work, for analyzing your progress and doing writing practice

76 Always think of your reader

77 Expose yourself to as many new experiences in a short amount of time as possible.

78 Learn to LOVE writing and reading

79 Write like you’re on your first date

80 Write everything down. Don’t trust your memory when you have a good idea, especially at night.

81 Set a time limit on each writing session, along with a goal for what you will finish in that time.

82 Simply leet things be what they are.

83 Read fiction

84 Write for different media

85 Don’t be afraid to cut out a line that seemed brilliant when you wrote it but really doesn’t add much.

86 Stop following links and write! Right now.

87 Hire someone else to write for you

88 Read Copyblogger

89 Trying to convey a certain emotion but not sure how? Listen to music that conveys a certain emotion in you while writing.

90 Set a timer and force yourself (even if it’s not your best work) to write a story within a designated amount of time.

91 Devour ‘Stein on Writing’ regularly.

92 Subscribe to Write to Done.

93 Read great writing

94 Write the opening sentence or headline last

95 Read your own writing out aloud

96 Read ‘Reading Like a Writer’ by Francine Prose

97 Write to agitate the mind and the nerves.

98 Find your unique voice

99 Love your words when you write them, hold them in suspicion when you edit them.

100 Write solely from the heart and shun copying others.

101 Cure for Writer’s Block: Read a great article from a favorite author or publication.

102 Use a voice recorder (or iPhone) when the right words come to you – but not in the shower.

103 Write a For and Against article for the same issue. This helps to stretch your thinking.

104 Engage strangers in conversation. Then write about it from memory, describing the person, setting, and conversation.

105 Write using a pencil instead of a laptop for more creativity.

106 Write outside

107 Read as much as humanly possible.

108 Remember: if you’re not sure, you don’t know.

109 Know when to walk away – and when to come back.

110 Believe that you’re a writer

111 Never trust your spell checker.

112 Write about what someone else has written

113 Think before you include an expletive

114 Check out the Urban Dictionary for topical inspiration

115 Be current – how do today’s headlines apply to your audience?

116 Ask, “Can it be turned into a list?” Think of at least five things you can list about it.

117 Never take a mundane experience for granted.

118 Bookmark this list and come back when you need to get those creative juices flowing.

119 Buy a small notebook and pen to take with you

120 Read the comments on your blog, treasure the folk who take the time to leave them and gather the seeds to make a great post.

121 Tell the story you most desperately want to read.

122 Always ask the question…”What if…”

123 Dialogue with your characters

124 Study criteria-based writing

125 Write as if you will stand up and present the article to an audience of a thousand people. Would they want to listen or go home?

126 Take up story challenges

127 Write in 101 words

128 Take up Nanowrimo

129 Write about what you want to write, not what you know.

130 Write 15 minutes a day. Every day.

131 Write with a plain text editor

132 Write on ugly paper because it tricks the brain to really believe that it doesn’t have to be perfect.

133 Write in small paragraphs in order to get to the point immediately

134 Look closely how successful writers make sentences.

135 Write when it comes to you

136 Write at the crack of dawn

137 Accept no excuses

138 Write when you’re tired

139 Write when you’re uninspired

140 Use a stack of 3×5 cards to start writing your book. Use on item or idea per card. Stack the card in order and type them in to develop a first draft.

141 Force yourself to disconnect for a while each day – turn off cell phone, Blackberry, iPod, music, email, Twitter, conversation with others.

142 Allow your mind to wander.

143 Try scotch or weed if all else fails…

144 Use ‘clustering’ to free up inspiration.

145 Put on your reviewer hat and write a review of your own article or story.

146 Visualize the person you are communicating with: What do their eyes reflect as they read this? What will the first thing they might say in response?

147 Do what works for you

148 Always call a spade a spade. It’s never a long-handled gardening implement!

149 Check out Richard Lanham’s ‘Parademic Method”

150 Do a ’stream of consciousness’ piece and see where it leads you.

151 Record random thoughts, story ideas, quotes on your phone when you’re out and about.

152 Try writing without accuracy. Not worrying about errors (left brain) allows for easier flow of thought (right brain).

153 Cut the crap

154 When in doubt, cut it out.

155 Write collaboratively

156 Read Dr. Frank Luntz’s “Words that Work”

157 Mean what you write, write what you mean

158 Write at the crack of dawn

159 There is a time for writing, and there is a time for editing. Don’t do both at once otherwise you’ll become too critical about what you wrote.

160 If you have a sense of where you want your piece to wind up, start there instead and see what happens.

161 Steal time for writing wherever and whenever you can find it.

162 Make writing a priority in your life. If you say it’s important to you, then show it in how you spend your time.

163 Tell the truth- that way you don’t need to remember what you wrote.

164 Don’t edit your work to death.

165 Collect words

166 Don’t be afraid to bust out the thesaurus to find a word that fits better in a sentence than the one currently there

167 Give yourself permission to write a crappy first draft

168 Try to eat properly. If you only eat junk your mental capacity diminishes and you can’t write well.

169 If you can’t write a book, write a blog post.

170 If you can’t write a blog post, comment on a post.

171 Love your tools. As St. Bumpersticker says, “My fountain pen can write better than your honor student!”

172 Study nature for simile possibilities. (”as still as oak leaves on a windless summer day,” )

173 Avoid these three weak words – unless absolutely necessary: Ifs, Buts, and Can’ts

173 When you feel blocked, do something mindless, like ironing or going for a quiet walk.

174 Practise condensing. Write a synopsis and then condense that. Précis the condensed synopsis. It helps to get to the bare bones of a story and reveal what it’s really about.

175 Rewrite from memory a good story you’ve read and then compare the two. Evaluate and learn from the differences.

176 Harness the power of your emotions

Please add your writing tips in the comments.

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Mary Jaksch is Chief Editor of Write to Done. You can read more articles by Mary on Goodlife ZEN. Get her free Ebook “Overcome Anything” here or grab a feed.

Categories: Craft, Habits, Productivity