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Sunday, March 29, 2015

My Easter Egg Hunt








To get in the mood for Easter I start myself on a special Easter Egg Hunt.
All I’m after is ANSWERS.
Your answers.
WHY DO YOU WRITE?
 And if you don't write (that's ok, really! ;) ):
What do you do to reveal those special Easter Eggs hidden inside you -
What is YOUR creative outlet and what does it give you do acknowledge it?

Friday, March 20, 2015

Currently reading...

Lynn Flewelling's series of fictional works, Tamir Triad
Bone Doll's Twin, Hidden Warrior, Oracle's Queen
One of my favorite!

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

6 Ways to Relieve a Serious Case of Writer's Block


Stuck with a writing project? Don't just go for a walk or drink coffee. Try these tips By John Brandon
 

Stuck. Stagnant. Can't break out of a rut. Frozen.
OK, let me start over.
As a writer, it sometimes feels like I'm stuck to a large piece of Velcro that won't let go.
Writer's block is the ailment that prevents you from coming up with good ideas when you sit down to write. We'll save the debate about whether it even exists for another day. And, we'll skip the obvious solutions like going for a walk or drinking coffee.
Here's my official advice on how to break out of a writing muckfest.



1. Persevere

The number one cure for writer's block is to persevere. You sit down at a blank screen in Google Docs and just stare. And stare. And stare. Yet, there is hope. Ask any professional writer what to do at this point and you'll likely hear the same thing. You just start typing. Then revise. Then revise again. (Hint to those who want to be a professional writer: If you don't persevere, you won't get paid.) Like any job, you have to push yourself until you see results. Then, keep pushing until the words finally erupt.

2. Read unrelated works

Be careful with this one. If you need to type up an idea for a new advertising pitch, don't go looking for similar ad pitches on the Web. And, don't copy the style, facts, or opinions of other writers. That's just wrong. At the same time, it's okay to crack open a book when you get writer's block. For me, reading something completely unrelated to business writing like the new Jack Reacher novel seems to jar something loose in my synapse and shake out a few of the most firmly-lodged dust bunnies.

3. Just start writing anything

I already mentioned how perseverance is the key to breaking writer's block. Related to that is a method I've often used when I'm stuck with an article. I just start writing. It's a bit like trying to find the library in an unknown city. You can sit and plan out your trip, type in the coordinates on your GPS, or ask for directions. How fun is that? Sometimes, you just need to start driving and look for a sign. Start writing anything--maybe it's a recipe list or a joke. Just get those brain cells moving.

4. Talk it out

If you see me at CES this next year or we happen to meet during one of my frequent trips to Silicon Valley, don't laugh too hard if my lips are moving. There are times when I start "writing" in my head and talk out loud to get the ideas flowing. I'm sure it makes me look like an idiot. No matter. Sometimes, it helps to talk out your prose and see if the words flow. Say them aloud, then type them up on your laptop. Done.

5. Switch to a different writing project

I've used this one many times. If you are trying to write a memo about the upcoming all-hands meeting, the one that's critically important to the company, try setting it aside and switch to something a little less important. Maybe the stress of the meeting is killing your creativity. Fine. Working on a different piece of writing might crack open the flood waters.

6. Wait

You know what? I believe writer's block does happen. Being tired and overworked, thinking too much about distractions outside of work, or a simple lack of creativity can all put you into a serious fuzz. It's okay to do something else for a while. Come back to the writing project. Even the professional writers will take breaks. I'm about to take one right now.

reblogged from Inc.com

Friday, March 6, 2015

The 10 Types of Writers' Block (and How to Overcome Them)

Writer's Block. It sounds like a fearsome condition, a creative blockage. The end of invention. But what is it, really?

Part of why Writer's Block sounds so dreadful and insurmountable is the fact that nobody ever takes it apart. People lump several different types of creative problems into one broad category. In fact, there's no such thing as "Writer's Block," and treating a broad range of creative slowdowns as a single ailment just creates something monolithic and huge. Each type of creative slowdown has a different cause — and thus, a different solution.
Instead of feeling overwhelmed by the terrifying mystique of Writer's Block, it's better to take it apart and understand it — and then conquer it. Here are 10 types of Writer's Block and how to overcome each type.
1. You can't come up with an idea.
This is the kind where you literally have a blank page and you keep typing and erasing, or just staring at the screen until Angry Birds calls to you. You literally can't even get started because you have no clue what to write about, or what story you want to tell. You're stopped before you even start.
There are two pieces of good news for anyone in this situation: 1) Ideas are dime a dozen, and it's not that hard to get the idea pump primed. Execution is harder — of which more in a minute. 2) This is the kind of creative stoppage where all of the typical "do a writing exercise"-type stuff actually works. Do a ton of exercises, in fact. Try imagining what it would be like if a major incident in your life had turned out way differently. Try writing some fanfic, just to use existing characters as "training wheels." Try writing a scene where someone dies and someone else falls in love, even if it doesn't turn into a story. Think of something or someone that pisses you off, and write a totally mean satire or character assassination. (You'll revise it later, so don't worry about writing something libelous at this stage.) Etc. etc. This is the easiest problem to solve.
2. You have a ton of ideas but can't commit to any of them, and they all peter out.
Now this is slightly harder. Even this problem can take a few different forms — there's the ideas that you lose interest in after a few paragraphs, and then there's the idea that you thought was a novel, but it's actually a short story. (More about that here.) The thing is, ideas are dime a dozen — but ideas that get your creative juices flowing are a lot rarer. Oftentimes, the coolest or most interesting ideas are the ones that peter out fastest, and the dumbest ideas are the ones that just get your motor revving like crazy. It's annoying, but can you do?
My own experience is that usually, you end up having to throw all those ideas out. If they're not getting any traction, they're not getting any traction. Save them in a file, come back to them a year or ten later, and maybe you'll suddenly know how to tackle them. You'll have more experience and a different mindset then. It's possible someone with more stubbornness could make one of those idea work right away, but probably not — the reason you can't get anywhere with any of them is because they're just not letting you tell the story you really want to tell, down in the murky subconscious.
The good news? Usually when I'm faced with the "too many ideas, none of them works" problem, I'm a few days away from coming up with the idea that does work, like gangbusters. Your mind is working in overdrive, and it's close to hitting the jackpot.
3. You have an outline but you can't get through this one part of it.
Some writers work really well with an outline, some don't. For some writers, the point of having an outline is to have a road to drive off, a straight line to deviate from as far as possible. Plus, every project is different — even if you're an outline fan usually, there's always the possibility that you need to grope in the dark for this one particular story.
Actually, there are two different reasons you could be getting stuck:
1) Your outline has a major flaw and you just won't admit it. You can't get from A to C, because B makes no sense. The characters won't do the things that B requires them to do, without breaking character. Or the logic of the story just won't work with B. If this is the case, you already know it, and it's just a matter of attacking your outline with a hacksaw.
2) Your outline is basically fine, but there's a part that you can't get past. Because it's boring, or because you just can't quite see how to get from one narrative peak to the next. You have two cool moments, and you can't figure out how to get from one cool bit to the other.
In either case, there's nothing wrong with taking a slight detour, or going off on a tangent, and seeing what happens. Maybe you'll find a cooler transition between those two moments, maybe you'll figure out where your story really needs to go next. And most likely, there's something that needs to happen with your characters at this point in the story, and you haven't hit on it yet.
4. You're stuck in the middle and have no idea what happens next.
Sort of the opposite of problem #3. Either you don't have an outline, or you ditched it a while back. Actually, here's what seems to happen a lot - you were on a roll the day before, and you wrote a whole lot of promising developments and clever bits of business. And then you open your Word document today, and... you have no idea where this is going. You thought you left things in a great place to pick up the ball and keep running, and now you can't even see the next step.

If it's true that you were on a roll, and now you're stuck, then chances are you just need to pause and rethink, and maybe go back over what you already wrote. You may just need a couple days to recharge. Or you may need to rethink what you already wrote.
If you've been stuck in the middle for a while, though, then you probably need to do something to get the story moving again. Introduce a new complication, throw the dice, or twist the knife. Mark Twain spent months stuck in the middle of Huckleberry Finn before he came up with the notion of having Huck and Jim take the wrong turn on the river and get lost. If you're stuck for a while, it may be time to drop a safe on someone.
5. You have a terrible feeling your story took a wrong turn a hundred pages back, and you only just hit a dead end.
This is the worst. You made a decision that felt bold and clever - you threw the dice and dropped a safe on someone - and now you're realizing that you made a horrible mistake and you've gone off course. Worse, you can see where your story should be right about now, if you hadn't made that dreadful error.
If you're absolutely sure that you've gone the wrong way, then there's no point in going forward any further. Is there any alternative to rewinding all the way to the original mistake and starting from there? Yes, but it might suck. Sometimes, if you can see clearly what your story ought to be like at this juncture, you can just keep going from here, as if you had gone the right way in the first place. Thus leaving yourself a giant hole that you'll have to go back and plug later. You can also rewind partially, going back 50 pages instead of 100 and then pretending you made the right choice originally.
In either case, though, beware - you're going to end up with two alternate timelines in your story, and it's up to you to keep straight what happened in the timeline you're sticking with, as opposed to the one you're discarding.
6. You're bored with all these characters, they won't do anything.
You created these bold, vibrant characters, and now you've written dozens of pages... about them brushing their teeth and feeding their cats.
Let's start with the obvious: characters who don't do anything aren't interesting characters. Either what you've got here are just your supporting cast, and you haven't created your main character yet, or you haven't found the thing that your characters really want, or the conflict that will spur them into action. You have some characters, but not a story, not yet.
Sometimes you have to find the knife before you can twist the knife.
The good news is, sometimes writing a few dozen pages of nothing much happening can be super valuable - you're getting into the world, and you're working out for yourself what these characters are about. It's entirely possible that once you've done that, a conflict will present itself, or one minor character will suddenly start looking like your protagonist. Just be prepared to toss out all these pages after that happens. (As you probably will with almost everything in a first draft, anyway.)
7. You keep imagining all the reasons people are going to say your story sucks, and it paralyzes you.
Otherwise known as the Inner Critic - you can't make any choices, because you keep imagining how someone at GoodReads will tear you apart for it later. Actually, the person at GoodReads doesn't exist, and it's just your own internal critic talking here. You'll need that inner voice of scorn for later, when you're revising - but while you're working on a first draft, you have to drown it out, possibly with loud Finnish death metal.
Chances are the ideas you're putting down aren't nearly as bad as your darkest fears tell you they might be. But in any case, you can always fix it in rewrites. (Although this does mean that you'll have to be twice as harsh when it comes to revising the thing - that's the bargain you make when you write a quick first draft with an eye to revising later.)
8. You can't think of the right words for what you're trying to convey in this one paragraph.
I've had this one - I know what I'm doing, and where I'm going next, and the story is humming along. But I can't move forward until I find just the right verb in this one sentence, and I spend a whole day's writing time staring at the screen and trying to figure it out. This seems like a silly waste of time - just use the wrong verb for now, fix it in rewrites! - except that sometimes hitting on the right word is partly a matter of visualizing the scene in your head. Plus, what if this happens during rewrites?
There's nothing wrong with spending a day or two fussing over one sentence. It may seem like a waste of time, it may feel like you're stuck - but actually, you're just paying close attention to your writing and to the way you're depicting the scene. If this goes on for a week, though, just pick a verb and move on.
9. You had this incredibly cool story in your head, and now you're turning it into words on a screen and it's suddenly dumb.
Is this your inner critic talking? Are you sure? Are you really sure?
Okay then. It's possible you're actually seeing a real problem with your idea, and with the execution. And, you know, there's nothing wrong with abandoning a novel and starting afresh. Sometimes these dead half-finished novels serve as great fertilizer for the awesome novel you're going to end up writing.
But don't give up too fast. It's possible that part of your idea is salvageable, or that the idea is genuinely cool and you've gotten yourself stuck into a weak execution of it. Sometimes it's helpful to step back and write a synopsis of the stuff you've already written, so you can see how it fits together and whether there are some buried parts that should be turning points in the story. Sometimes it's helpful to try writing bits of your story from a different character's point of view, to see how they look from another vantagepoint.
10. You're revising your work, and you can't see your way past all those blocks of text you already wrote.
Revising is a nightmare - and if you've adhered to the "write a first draft quickly and then fix it in rewrites" school of thought, you've agreed to a Faustian bargain. There's no way to make this process go faster or more smoothly, a lot of the time. Sometimes it takes a while of looking at your text from different angles to figure out where the problems are, and sometimes you need more feedback from more people to figure out where the real structural weaknesses are.
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that if you're getting stuck during revisions, that's not any type of Writer's Block (as nebulous a concept as Writer's Block is), but rather just the natural process of trying to diagnose what ails your novel.
Although one thing that works for me when I'm getting stuck with revisions is just to rewrite large sections from scratch, without looking back at your original draft. Same story, new words. Sometimes, it's a lot quicker than trying to wrangle the words you already put down.

Reblogged from io9.com by Charlie Jane Anders