Do you love writing? What kind of writing to you enjoy most? I enjoy writing fiction. I wouldn’t mind writing non-fiction, but then I can’t delve into the creative aspects that is so much a part of fiction.
If you love to write, what do you love about it? For me it’s relaxing. Not only that, but I like the writing high when I’ve written something that brings the story home. When I read a book, any book, I am reminded of the love for the writing craft that other authors have. I can see this in their writing. The attention to detail, the well developed characters, the setting(s), interwoven story lines, and much much more. Of course, none of these details runs off the top of authors’ heads. Much thought is given to every aspect of writing a story.
When I visit Twitter, I feel the joy in every author I follow as they talk about their books. Their love of writing comes through their words.
Love your characters. Breathe your story. Embrace your writing. If you love to write? Write. You don’t necessarily have to write a book. You might enjoy writing short stories, or non-fiction.
Smooth water, turquoise blue, sunny sands, lie under you. A far away voice, and seagulls call, to anyone out there, where waves do fall. A palm tree bows, your cheek it tickles, in breezes pushing, from an ocean’s cold prickle. A setting sun, clouds fade to dark, stars peek out, the day is done.
Sometimes the words don’t come. They are there but stuck inside your head. They press against your brain, they even knock against it. But they don’t know how to make it to the page. Ahhhhh!! What do you do? I mean, yeah, you can see in our head what you want to write (we’re talking about fiction here, story writing). You see the scene. You might think it would be easy to write it out because you see it so clearly. But no.
How does that happen? Why do writers get stuck like this? I’m not talking about writers block. Writers block is when you can’t think of anything. There is nothing running through your brain. Nothing. But, with the situation mentioned in the above paragraph, the story is there, the words are there. They are just in your head rolling around.
Perhaps you are trying too hard to get the scene just right.
You are having a difficult time choosing the right words that will have the greatest impact on the reader. Well, you can come up with what you think is the best way to write something and someone will still be disappointed. Why? Because we can’t please everyone.
A free write is the best way to get passed this word stuckness. Just write everything down as it comes to you without worrying about the best way to say what you you want to say. Spill it all out there. When you’re done, walk away from it for a little while. Then go back, read through your free write. You will be amazed at how easy everything comes to you. You will know what to keep, what to change, and what to add.
Me? I like to think about it. Roll the scene around in my head and try out different ways of starting it (or continuing it if I’m in the middle of a scene). I have taken time off of writing for a few days, so I can think my story through. I am most comfortable with this option. I do the free write too sometimes. It just depends.
Beginning a novel can be daunting and confusing because you might not know where to start or how to start. Ideas may be flowing from your brain, and you may have written them down; or not. Either way, when it comes to starting your story, you might fall flat…at first. Don’t worry. There’s hope. We’ve all been there.
Writing a story and drawing it out into a lengthy novel reminds me of smoothing out wrinkles. A once over is good, but you might have to go over it multiple times before it’s the way you want it. The process is lengthy, so I’m not going to kid by saying it’s easy. Time is involved. Great care must be taken. Does it get easier over time? Yes. Know this though…everyone is different. The process might be faster for some than others. That’s okay. The point is to do it your way at your pace. When I first started writing fiction I was in high school, but the urge and yearning to write started much earlier than that. I didn’t know how to write a book, when I was aged ten. Although, there were stories brewing in my head all the same. I was a daydreamer. I still am. I didn’t start getting serious about writing fiction until my undergrad years in college.
I started with writing poems and short stories, but writing novels piqued my interest more, so that journey began. I created a general idea of what I wanted to write, and I set out typing my story. The challenge came when I realized I needed to know more about writing a novel. Thus, that journey also began. Here’s what it all looked like; I wrote my novel and learned how to write one at the same time. Yes, it was time consuming, but it was fun. In that time, I put it down on multiple occasions because life happened. Over the course of writing your novel, you will run up against situations that will stop or slow you down as well.
Whether you are stuck in the starting position because you are unable to generate ideas, you are not sure in which literary genre to write, you do not know where to start, or you need to learn more about writing fiction. We are all different with various backgrounds and life events. Do what is comfortable for you. Although, it doesn’t have to be difficult for you. I don’t want you to have to figure it out along the way like I did. If you are wanting to write a novel/book (fiction) and you have questions, please feel free to ask me questions.
Person vs Technology This type of conflict is where a person(s) go up against the perilous effects of technology moving in a forward direction. Someone had a great idea that sounded great at the time, but when the idea was tried out or an experiment done, something went very wrong. A classic tale that depicts this is the book by Mary Shelley, Frankenstein. Some other examples are 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Terminator, The Giver, The Matrix… The list goes on.
WRITE TIME AND AGAIN 