Tag: writing

Do you practice daily writing exercises to keep your writing flow active?

On By florencewitkopIn Romance Writing, The Craft of Writing, The Writing Life, Writing FictionLeave a comment
Personally, no I don’t.

I never have, figuring that my time is valuable (to me, anyway) and that I’d rather spend it doing something than practicing doing something.

So I write and that in itself is an exercise in how to write. Sometimes what I write is deleted and that’s okay because few things in life are perfect. But sometimes it surprises me with how well it turns out.

I think I’ve almost finished writing a good novel, but I’ve lost focus and interest in finishing it — how can I best regain it?

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The answer to this particular question is easy. I suspect I’m not the only writer out there who has learned the answer through experience.

The answer is: Forget about it. Put is aside. Find a nice shelf and put the manuscript on it and cover it with a pile of other, more interesting, things until you can’t see it no matter how hard you look.

In other words, forget it exists. Go on with your life.

Eventually, of course, your subconscious will begin to bother you. You’ll start searching your mental files to figure out what’s wrong. And then — eureka! — you’ll remember that novel you set aside.

More than likely, you’ll find that you have renewed interest in it and are more than happy to pull it out from the bottom of that pile and start working on it again.

Don’t know why this happens, I just know that, more often than not, it does.

The science fiction writer, Issac Azimov, normally had a large number of manuscripts that he worked on at the same time. Each day he’d look them over and decide what he’d work on at the moment. Which appealed to him. And, conversely, which had lost any and all appeal. He’d work on the ones that were interesting at the moment and ignore those that weren’t. And, if he tired of one story while writing, he’d switch to another.

Because that’s the way some minds work. By jumping around. And that’s okay.

Do MFA programs make you a better writer?

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Maybe. Maybe not.

And before I go on, in the interest of full disclosure, I must admit that I have a love-hate relationship with advanced degrees. I’ve loved some of my advanced classes and hated others. And I remember one time when the instructor went around the first day of class asking us what we wanted out of the class (I can’t even remember what the class was for!) and my answer was that I wanted it to be the absolute last class I’d ever take in my life. Because I was sick and tired of taking classes. And of advanced degrees.

So, with that out of the way, the answer to your question depends….

If you want that MFA only in order to become a better writer, then consider how good you already are before gearing up for that degree.

It can do wonders if your writing skills are less than those of most people because part of the beauty of an MFA is that it (supposedly) lifts the student into the somewhat exclusive domain of the upper middle class and beyond, at least as far as speaking and writing are concerned and that’s what you want. So it could work.

On the other hand, it’s unlikely to help much if you already have writing skills that are equal to or better than those of your average person because you are already where it will get you as far as writing is concerned.

So think hard before you go for that long, intense, expensive degree and make sure that it will really lift you from mediocre to excellent.

And here’s another thought….

If you truly believe you are mediocre but don’t want to go through all that hassle and expense, you might consider other options that can achieve the same result. Such as volunteering in a place where educated people are already volunteering so as to watch and learn from them. Or something else — anything else — that will put you in a milieu in which you will absorb the things in an unstructured way that an MFA teaches through structured lessons.

The first scene of my novel is a chase scene where two boys are being chased. But I haven’t revealed their names, so there’s a lot of “the first boy”, “the other boy”, “then the other boy” for 4 pages and it’s confusing . How can I fix this?

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Reading this question, I had a couple thoughts. Questions. The answers to the questions indicate how to handle the scene.

  1. First, is it necessary to distinguish which boy is doing what? Does it matter or are you mainly trying to get across that two boys are being chased? If it doesn’t matter, then don’t worry about it. Just describe what’s happening and let the reader know that there are two boys. If the reader wants to know which boy is doing what, let them figure it out for themselves.
  2. Second, though, if it is important to differentiate the boys, can you include dialogue? (Depends on whether they are in a situation where talking/whispering/shouting is appropriate.) If dialogue can be included, then use dialogue tags. (You can find out about dialogue tags in previous posts on my web page if you don’t know what I’m talking about.) Dialogue tags are wonderful. Fabulous.
  3. Thirdly, if it is important to differentiate the boys and you cannot include dialogue, then choose something about each boy that can quickly and easily be described, like unusually long hair or a torn pant legs or something more creative that you’ll come up with because you know the story. As you describe the chase scene, describe what’s happening to that special thing as the boys are trying to get away. Long, blonde hair got caught and had to be torn free. A torn pant leg ripped more each time something happened until the pant leg had to be be torn off completely. Or something else entirely. The description of what happens to the item will also be a description of the boy so the reader will be able to keep them straight.

How does one express oneself in writing a science fiction novel with an original idea so that it can impact people and never leave their minds? Take the writing style of, The Martian, for example.

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You write without considering that you’re writing for people to read what you write. That way you’re more concerned with what you write than you are with how you write and your writing will flow more naturally.

You also write without considering that you’re really writing, not for your reader, but rather for the editor or publisher (bricks and mortar or online) that will look over what you wrote and decide whether it’s worth publishing or not.

In other words, you forget all the rules of writing you learned over your long and arduous writing education and write what you want. How you want. Any way you want.

Then, when you’re finished —- (of course there’s a ‘then’) —- you go back over what you wrote and figure out what changes can be made so the result will be what people want to read and what those oh-so-important gate-keepers to the writing world will publish.

If you’re lucky, you’ll find a way to make such changes and then you’ll have the best of both worlds, that of the professional who writes to give other people what they want while also writing for yourself.

If you can achieve those goals, you’ll have reached a plateau of meaning and elegance that few writers ever reach.

Good luck!

Does being social help with writing dialogue for your stories? If not, what do you think helps with writing good dialogue?

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To be honest, your question stumped me for a moment.

I doubt that being social helps because people in books don’t speak the same way that they do in real life. Not even close.

Nor can you just pull sentences out of thin air.

But I suspect that reading books that have the kind of dialogue that you wish you’d written, then taking apart those scenes, is possibly the best way to learn how to write good dialogue.

What is the best point of view to use when writing a multi-character novel?

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There’s a process by which you figure that out.
  1. First, what’s the genre of the novel? Some novels are so often done in one view-point or another that stories written in any other viewpoint will be ignored. Not read.
  2. IF you have a choice because such novels can use any of a number of viewpoints, then you continue the process to figure out which will work best for you.
  3. Of course, the first step in the process is figuring out if there’s a particular viewpoint that you do best. If there is, then go with that viewpoint because, no matter what other viewpoint might seem best, any story is best told the way that works best for the writer.
  4. If you’re okay with any viewpoint, then look at your story. Check out the characters to see if one of them stands out from the others. Maybe because he/she is important, but perhaps because he/she is in the story in such a way as to be privy to most/all of the plot as it unfolds. If so, go with that character.
  5. Remember that the viewpoint character will slant the story one way or another. In other words, the story you end up with will be influenced by the viewpoint character. So a second thing to consider is what kind of story you want to write. Choose the viewpoint character that best reflects the theme of the story as well as being able to channel all the action because he/she is privy to most of the plot.

This works because I’ve never seen a story yet where all characters are equal in all ways or where the viewpoint character does not, in his/her actions and reflections, mirror the theme of the book.

When starting a novel, is it good to create an outline of ideas or just to write the ideas into the story and hash it out later?

On By florencewitkopIn Romance Writing, Short Story, The Craft of Writing, The Writing Life, Writing Fiction3 Comments
Either way works fine. It’s a personality thing.

Are you the type who jumps into everything you do feet first? Or the type who researches everything before making a move?

Which type you are tells you which way you should approach the craft of writing a story.

Personally, I started out by jumping in feet first but, over time, decided that I put less time and effort into a story if I research and outline first. So I made myself slow down and learn how to do just that.

I’ve never regretted changing methods, but what worked for me might not work for others. So do what feels right for you.

Can I write a love story if I’ve never been in love?

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Of course you can.

If science fiction writers can write about worlds and times that don’t exist, then you can write about love.

All it takes is a well-honed —- and well-trained —- imagination.

Because describing something you don’t personally know without thinking through how you want to do it, is an exercise in futility and will result in poor writing.

But describing something you don’t know after thinking it through and deciding what you want to say and why you want to say it is the mark of a professional writer of fiction.

What are female character cliches to avoid?

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There are no cliches to avoid, male or female. None.

Cliches exist because they clue the reader into the character being described quickly and easily. That can be a good thing because it saves time and effort that can be put to better use telling the story.

The thing is, do a good job of describing your ‘cliche’ character. Don’t skimp and do delve deeply into your character.

Because then that cliche character won’t be a cliche after all, she’ll be a living, breathing, exciting example of a specific personality type.