Writing – Page 14 – WRITE TIME AND AGAIN

Developing Story Ideas

Posted on November 10, 2022February 23, 2023 by L. M. Montes

Steps to developing your story ideas don’t have to be difficult. Here are some ways to do this.

Create a Character

Describe his/her physical attributes, personality, their likes and dislikes. You can include their race and ethnicity. What is their job? What other details about them are there?

Identify Your Character’s Desire

What is it specifically that drives your character into action?

Choose a Resistance

What or who will stand in your character’s way?

The Change

Decide on how your character will grow throughout the story.

Captivating Settings

What is going on in and around your character’s world?

Putting it all together

When you first start your story idea, the above will work as a guideline. Jot down some ideas in a journal or notebook for each of the above areas to get yourself started. Then go back and develop each area in more detail. Continue this process until you have enough details written in each of the above areas to bein your story. However, when you begin writing, your story will be up to you. Everybody is different. You may not need many details to start, but others will.

Poetry

Whispers by L. M. Montes

Posted on November 9, 2022 by L. M. Montes

A whisper gently tickles,
as one’s words politely trickle,
whether kind or filled with angst,
the mind will sing or sink with pangs
of what it does not want to know.
But do we sit and let it fester
or set it loose on water’s flow?

The Cross’s Key

The Kindle/eBook version and all formats of my new novel are now live on Amazon.

Editing

Reading Backwards

Posted on October 31, 2022October 29, 2022 by L. M. Montes

As many of you know from a previous post, I finished my second novel this past July of 2022. Since then I’ve been editing, re-editing, and then editing some more. How many time does one need to read their work before it’s polished? How ever many times it takes. You will know when it’s just right. When you’re done with editing it, give it to another editor who knows what they’re doing. They have those editor’s eyes that will see something you missed that you didn’t think was an issue. Also, give your final draft to a beta reader (or a test reader). Yes, you want to do this. They will give you valuable feedback about your story. Trust me, if there is part of your story that isn’t making sense, your beta reader will spot it.

Before you go beyond the editing YOU are doing, read your story/manuscript backwards. Yes, start with the last page of your story and read each paragraph starting from the last paragraph and working your way backwards. Doing this will allow your brain to focus more on the mechanics of each sentence rather than the story. Think about it. When you are reading a story, the story is flowing through your mind. Your brain is focusing on the story itself and not on the mechanical issues you may have that must be fixed. Therefore, you will end up missing mistakes that need to be fixed. By reading it backwards, the story itself won’t get in the way.

Writing

Sticking to It

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

It is said that as an author/writer one must write every day. Well, yes, that is true. It takes self-discipline. How much it takes depends on the person because we’re all different. But if you are one who does not have much self-discipline, it can be learned. You just have to turn it into a habit. How do you do that? By writing every day. I am not going to kid you. Some days it won’t be easy to write because you won’t be in the mood. That’s ok. Do something, anything. Just write. You don’t have to write a lot. Just write. Once writing daily becomes a habit, you will look forward to the task more.

Now comes the question, what if I don’t do any actual writing? What if I am only working in my journal or planning out my story? Yes, those tasks are considered writing. There are times when I am in the middle of writing a scene, and I get stuck. I don’t know how to proceed with the story/scene. So I stop, close out my story, get my shoes on, and go for a walk. On this walk I am thinking about the scene. I let the breeze refresh me and my mind. I allow my characters to ‘walk around’ (so to speak) inside my mind and take a break from the page. When I do this, the answer comes. For you it might not be a walk that you need. It may be something else. My point is that these walks are considered my writing time as well because the story in a way is still being worked on. It also makes the process fun and less tedious.

So, stick with it. Do not give up. Make the process of writing/creating fun. Just stick to it.

Poetry

The Glow by L. M. Montes

Posted on September 23, 2022 by L. M. Montes

At half sunrise and half sunset,
a low light of heaven predawn or preset,
gives pause to one’s thoughts,
of pre-day or pre-night,
reflection abounds and growth is met.

Cherish the moments of heaven’s glow,
when quietude erupts and silence so low,
smile, drink coffee, enjoy the time,
those moments, so precious, do flee,
so day and night can grow.

Poetry

Beauty by L. M. Montes

Posted on August 30, 2022August 30, 2022 by L. M. Montes

What is beauty?
A visual of mountains, streams, and lakes?

Is it a flower?
Those precious colored jewels, our breaths they take?

Is it the ocean waves spilling across the sand?
A sound so smooth and brings us sleep?

Does it come in the form of a sweet scent?
From flowers’ scents to baked pecan rolls, a taste we keep?

What form does it take?
Any form to you and me from Jesus hand for us to see.

Writing

Write It Down

Posted on August 30, 2022 by L. M. Montes

You want to write a novel, but you don’t know how to start. You have all these ideas milling around in your head, but you can’t seem to organize them. What do you do? Write them down. Get a journal and write it in there, or create an electronic file in your word processing program and write it in there.

What do you do once you get your ideas written down and organized? This is where I say, it all depends on how you as an individual go about it? Everyone is different and will do what is comfortable for them. But what if you don’t know how you work? You are going to have to try different things and discover what way you like best.

Here’s what I do. When I finished my first novel, I immediately wanted to write the second one. I had an idea of what I wanted the second book to be about but most of it was bunched in my head in pieces. I knew what I wanted the story to consist of but I didn’t know what I needed to do to connect those ideas. I started out by putting together a three ring binder with sections. These sections are as follows: characters, realms, settings, photos, names for characters, questions, story, style sheet, and fantasy characters.

I went through each section of my binder and added my notes in each section. Once the information was separate this way, my mind was free to meditate on each. The one section I started with was questions. I looked at those and sought to answer them. No, the answers didn’t come right away. I brainstormed the answers and some questions I had to really think about. This is where my walks came in handy. During that time my brain was free to think. Much of what I came up with and worked for my story came from that thinking time during my walks.

Example: below is a question I needed an answer to for my up and coming novel The Cross’s Key. I wanted seven realms in my novel hence the double question below…..

What will these realms be and how will I connect them to the story?

The answer to the above questions did not come right away. It took a while. That’s ok. Don’t rush your story. Take your time. But…..write down your ideas.

Poetry

The Rain by L. M. Montes

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

I lay aloft on feathers
in a house of wood in trees,
the rain, oh sleep persuader,
carry the mind afloat on seas,
to slumber as I lay buoyant,
relaxed among the breeze,
trickle patterns of pitter patter,
to dreams my eyes will see.