Write – Page 9 – WRITE TIME AND AGAIN

The Hook

Posted on June 13, 2022March 29, 2023 by L. M. Montes

How often do we try to gain the attention of others? Quite often I presume, and we gain their attention in various ways. If you are writing something, whether it be a short story, poem, or a novel, you must gain the attention of your audience early in the story. By early, I mean first page or two. It doesn’t have to be main premise of your whole story yet, but it does have to grab.

One way to do this is to create a question in the reader’s mind.

Example: A light glowed as Jack approached the hallway to the left. He stopped and poked his head around the corner. There a small box glowed in the middle of a chalk drawn circle.

This example creates various questions, such as:

Why is the box glowing?
What’s in the box?
How did it get there?
What does the circle mean?
Why is it the middle of a circle? What does that represent?

So, all kinds of questions come from this one small sentence. That’s what you want. This would certainly keep me reading/turning the page.

Writing

In the Mood

Posted on June 4, 2022 by L. M. Montes

So, you sit down to your computer to do some writing and find you lost focus. Maybe you didn’t have it when you sat down but thought you did. AHHHH. What can you do to regain it? Spoiler alert, that happened to me just now when I sat down to write. Hence the topic for this post (Laughing at myself). Alas, I regained my focus. After all, if I hadn’t, I wouldn’t be typing his article. What did I do to rectify the situation and get ‘in the mood’, so to speak? There was a piece of information I needed to obtain from my previous novel, so I could use it for my current novel I’m writing. So, I opened my previous novel, The Triunix of Time, and found what I was looking for. I read the few pages needed. Yes, doing this settled my mind down, and I was off and typing. There are some other things one can do to focus and settle your brain down other than what I did. A list is given below.

Meditation— Close your eyes, breath deep, and clear your mind. Then allow your writing to enter your brain and take up residence.
Soft Music— Put on some soft music. It can be instrumental, or maybe your prefer love songs. Choose what you like best. Then zero your mind in on your writing.
Sounds of Nature— I absolutely LOVE the sound of the ocean. I don’t live on the coast, but I can bring it close by going to YouTube and playing sounds of the ocean. Talk about relaxing.
Go for a Walk— I usually do this when I am having trouble dreaming up what’s to come next in the book I’m currently writing. The fresh air helps. That, and most importantly, I use that time to talk to Jesus and tell him what’s on my mind. I bounce ideas for my story off Him. It gives me peace.

Maybe there are other things you do or others do that aren’t listed here. It’s up to you to use whatever method works best for you.

Fiction

An Author’s Journey Pictorial (Fun with Pictures)

Posted on May 25, 2022May 25, 2022 by L. M. Montes

IDEA

JOT DOWN IDEAS FOR YOUR STORY

CREATE CHARACTERS

OUTLINE YOUR STORY (IF YOU ARE A PLANNER) AND WRITE IT

YOUR FINISHED BOOK

Writing

When You Get Discouraged

Posted on May 24, 2022 by L. M. Montes

Not everything you do when writing is going to work out the first time around. I think you know this already, but sometimes we can still get discouraged and still need reminding. There are times when something in your daily life can bring you down. It can affect your writing whether you might think so or not. For some people it won’t, but not everyone is the same. Let it add to your writing instead of distract you.

So how can you use that negative situation to strengthen your writing? Use it. Jot down how you’re feeling, then later, when you’re writing a scene that calls for those emotions, you can refer to your notes.
Take a deep breath, relax, and focus on your story. When your mind tries to veer back to the problem that’s bothering you. Refocus on your story and take another deep breath.
Surround yourself with someone who will uplift you. Talk to them about how your feeling. You’d be surprised the good this can do. Then your getting it out of your system.
At times we get discouraged about our writing. Don’t get yourself down about that. Look at your previous writings that brought in a lot of praise. What did others like about it? Focus on that.

Emotions

The Tension Factor

Posted on May 21, 2022 by L. M. Montes

Components of creating tension:

An opposing force
Unanswered question or questions created by the situation or by other characters within the story and keeps readers asking more questions thereby raising their curiosity
Danger, fear, or conflict
Increased danger, fear, or conflict that ebbs and flows as the story moves along
Engaging characters with opposing goals

If you’re having difficulty coming up with specific ideas that will create tension/suspense, think of it this way, play on your main character’s fears. Make them as uncomfortable and fearful as possible. Throw the works at them. Just don’t forget to give them the courage to work through that fear and accomplish the story’s goals.

Writing

The Words You Choose

Posted on May 16, 2022 by L. M. Montes

Is there a right or wrong way to say something? Of course. But, not everyone will like what you say. You can’t please everyone. There will always be somebody who doesn’t like what you wrote. Maybe you wrote something regarding a certain topic and Person A didn’t agree with your ideas. Spoiler alert, here again, not everyone will agree with you. Let’s say Person A sends you a message saying you should have said “this” or “that”. And maybe Person A points out where you could go to get more information that would prove what you wrote was wrong. Then they tell you that maybe you need to correct what you wrote accordingly.

Uh, no. If you feel strongly about your words, stick with them. If it’s fact filled nonfiction, and your research is documented correctly, stick with your stance. Your job is not to please everybody who reads your writing. Your job is to write. Stick to your words.

There will be times when you want to respond back to someone who “stabs” your writing in the “heart”. It will make you angry/irritated. But, before you respond back to them, take a deep breath. Let it out slow and take five minutes to think of an appropriate response. Then, tactfully, respond to them (if you choose to).

Poetry

Muddied Knowledge by L. M. Montes

Posted on May 12, 2022 by L. M. Montes

Muddied knowledge of things to be
invades the psyche of you and me,
an understanding we uphold,
but is it truth, or ramblings so bold.

It’s said that ignorance is bliss
but then our growth to new is missed,
stagnate we will stay,
and learn the truth another day.

Characterization

Likeable Characters

Posted on May 10, 2022 by L. M. Montes

Have you ever finished reading a book of fiction and were disappointed it ended? And was part of that disappointment because you were going to miss the characters? You actually liked the characters so much you didn’t want the story to end. You enjoyed your time with them. Why do you think you liked them so much?

The answer is very simple. The author did a fantastic job creating them. But how were they able to be that effective in their creation? It lies in the attention to detail. It goes beyond physical appearance. Go deep within your characters, their minds: how they think, feel, react to certain things, mannerisms. Study other people around you and make notes in a journal. What do you like and dislike about them? Make a list of habits and choose some for your character to have.

Also, consistency is a huge key to creating believable characters. Don’t have them be unafraid of spiders in one chapter and afraid of them in the next. Don’t give them one habit in the first part of the book and it not be their habit in another part of the book. That will only serve to frustrate the reader, and they’ll put the book/story down.

You won’t know if your readers will like your characters or not, but if you do your job and pay attention to detail, the chances of them having such an impact on the reader will go up.

Writing

People Inspiration

Posted on May 6, 2022 by L. M. Montes

If you are an author, whether you are experienced or not, sometimes talking to someone you trust (implicitly) about your story ideas can help you tremendously. I know that’s very simple advice, and maybe you already knew that. But it’s a good reminder. I never would have come up with the story I did for my first book had I not confided in my creative writing professor. Sometimes we need that nudge. So, if you are on the fence about a piece of writing you are working on, hash it out with a trusted friend.

Characterization

Character Names

Posted on May 3, 2022April 30, 2022 by L. M. Montes

How do you choose names for your characters? Do you merely assign them a name without giving much thought to it? Do you use a process? There are quite a few things one can do to assign names to their characters. I’ve used a baby names book. Looking names lists online works too. If your character is of another culture or country whose names are different than those used in your own, some baby names books have lists of common names used in different countries.

In one of my pieces of writing I used characters of 4 real life people. I asked them permission first. Please, if you are ever going to do this, ask that person or persons permission to use them in your book/story. When I was renaming these 4 people for my story, I tried to choose names that fit their personalities. Trust me, this wasn’t as easy as it may have appeared to be. One gentleman helped me with that, so that one was easy enough to put a name to. The other three took some thinking. I got my baby names book out and browsed male names. I thought of each person individually and then tried out a name on them. I went through several before settling on some that worked well and matched each of their personalities. There was only one problem. One of the guys I couldn’t think of a name for. At all. So I, for the time being, left his name alone and used his real name until I could think of one that suited him. FINALLY, after writing 25 chapters, I thought of the perfect name for him. Of course, I had to go back and change his name throughout the manuscript, but it was worth the wait.

Most often you’re not going to use real people. But the same thing still rings true. The people you make up will have personalities and you will have to choose a name that fits that personality. Also, if you are going to assign a name to a character that sounds funny or out of place, you might want to explain why they were given that name by making that part of your story. For example, if you give one of your female characters the name of Spunky Dickson (a funny name for a female anyway), have the character tell why her parents named her that. Maybe the whole story centers around that. Maybe Spunky is a nickname.

Have fun choosing names for your characters. Don’t make it a chore. Work with it and mold it into your story.