Angela Booth's Writing Blog

Writing fiction? Here's the easiest way to outline (even if you hate outlining)

Your novel is a STORY

As we said in From Dud To Fiction Bestseller: 3 Strategies To Get You There:

… start with the story (not the plot.)

There’s a difference between story and plot, so always start with story — don’t try to plot until you’ve got the story straight in your mind.

Before you think about your novel’s first page, think about the novel, as a whole. What happens? What’s the story?

Mysteries usually involve a crime of some sort, often murder. So, who’s your victim? Why was he/ she murdered?

How was he/ she murdered? Where was he/ she murdered?

At this stage, you don’t need a complete plot, you just need enough material to become enthusiastic and inspired.

Choose a genre (category) and dream up some situations which would be appropriate for the genre you’ve chosen.

Discover outlining the easy way here.

If you think your fiction is boring, try this (add drama)

Horrible characters are drama gold

You’re writing a novel or short story, so you get to spend a lot of time with your characters. We all want to be around nice people. Why would you make some of your characters horrible?

One reason: to create drama.

Let’s say that your female lead in your romance falls in love with a man who’s divorced, and has three children. The kids are demons from hell. Brainstorm ways in which the demon kids can demolish the romance in this new relationship.

Read all the tips: create dramatic fiction now.

The easiest-ever way to write fiction (for some authors)

Write fiction: an easy tactic

Here’s the tactic: follow your inspiration.

Primarily, try writing non-sequentially.

We looked at this in How To Outline A Novel If You’re A Natural-Born Pantser:

Be prepared to write non-sequentially… I keep a “Scenes” folder. If I want to write a scene which won’t come up for several chapters, I place the scene’s document in that folder.

Why write non-sequentially?

We discussed writing non-sequentially in a recent writers’ group meeting. Seven members write like this.

Read the complete article.

 

 

Plotting woes? Give your plots a boost, as many authors have done

Try these tips to get inspired, as Shakespeare did.

1. Try a fairy tale retelling: twist it into your own version

Here’s a list of Grimm’s fairy tales. Choose one story, and read it several times.

Think about the story.

What’s its inner meaning? Please do NOT look up morals of these tales. You don’t want anyone else’s ideas, you want your own interpretation, the more twisted the better… Once you have that, you can muse on the characters in the tale, and their situation.

Change the story’s era. Place it in a modern or historical setting, or a completely fantastical setting, your choice.

Read the complete article.

Need ideas for writing or marketing?

Write first (brain dump), then brainstorm

I like brain dumps; they warm you up, so that your brainstorming is more productive. That said, don’t expect instant results from brainstorming. In my experience, your best ideas arrive a few hours after a brainstorming session.

Create mind maps for brainstorming as well as for research.

After you’ve created a mind map from your brainstorming session, do something else for a few hours. When you return, view your research and brainstorm mind maps side by side—print them out. Studying the two maps may trigger ideas—again, often a few hours later.

Read the full article.

 

Are you using mind maps? Try these ideas

A mind map helps you to reduce stress and achieve your goals

Creating a mind map can help if you:

• Need to manage complex projects, or a lot of information (use a mind map when you’re plotting your next novel, or launching a new product);
• Feel overwhelmed—creating a mind map helps you to spot creative solutions to the knottiest challenges;
• Track people and processes. Use a mind map whenever you’re trying to manage a group, quote on a complex project, or complete a major project on time and on budget (without losing your sanity);
• Need to learn something: studying is easier when you mind map your notes.

Read the article, Use A Mind Map: 4 Savvy Tips To Reduce Stress And Achieve Your Goals.

Graphic Design: Make It Free And Easy With The Canva App

Looking for free graphic design tools? Check out Canva. You can use the free version, and when you need it, subscribe to Canva Pro.

Canva helps anyone to create clever and practical graphics for almost any purpose.

Free graphic design: Canva makes design easy

Every small business person needs graphics, for social media content, logos, flyers, price lists, labels, presentations… If you’re a writer, you need images for websites, self-publishing projects like book covers, for marketing, client materials and more.

Unfortunately, commercial graphic design editors like Photoshop are not only expensive, there’s also a BIG learning curve. I can still remember the sheer horror I felt when I opened Photoshop for the first time. Moreover, although I used Photoshop for years, there was always more to learn; I never felt truly confident.

Beyond using a graphics editor, the big challenge when you’re creating your own graphics, is designing. Can the graphics you design on a tool like Canva equal those which a professional designer can custom-create for you?

Read the complete article on my site.

 

Colors: Improve Descriptions In Your Fiction

6. Name That Color

The last tool on my list, Name that Color, is fun if you like having names for your brand colours. Type in or select any colour and you’ll be given a name for that particular shade (or at least something very close). The developer of this cool project built up a compilation of over 1500 colour names, which are listed in a drop-down menu in alphabetical order, if you’d also like to try picking your colours that way. Thanks to this tool, I can now refer to my two main brand colours as “Alizarin Crimson” and “River Bed”.

via lisafurze.com

Writers are observers. Improve your observation skills by increasing your sensitivity to colors.

Julia Cameron on Morning Pages

Further on morning pages, I just found a wonderful video in which Julia Cameron explains the concept.

If you haven't worked with morning pages before, think of it as writing whatever pops into your head -- you're writing about anything at all that pops into your mind.

You're not writing to be read by anyone, not even yourself. You're clearing your mind of all the junk that's in there. Write your pages first thing in the morning, as soon as you wake up. (You may need to get up half an hour earlier than you usually do.) Just write whatever comes. 

"Whatever comes" might be truly horrible. I remember that when I first started writing morning pages over a decade ago, I spent at least six weeks whining on paper. Finally I got bored listening to myself, and looking back, I think that's the key. 

When you dump everything onto paper, you can finally see yourself, and hear yourself -- and you'll get tired of all your problems and concerns. It's as though you're spring cleaning your mind.

I'm excited about doing morning pages again; I'll let you know how it goes. :-)

Morning Pages: Writing To Clear Your Mind and Your Life

Got a BIG writing project which scares you, but excites you as well? 

I'm working on a novel again after many years of writing nonfiction, and it's scary. I can't seem to focus. Worse, I tell myself that I don't have the time to write a novel... and guess what, I don't.

That's nonsense, of course. It takes minutes to write one page, and that's all anyone needs to do to complete any writing project: write ONE page, today. (Or even one paragraph today.)

This morning, when I woke up, I suddenly remembered "morning pages". I remembered them while working on my novel; go figure. I woke up and decided to write a couple of pages, longhand, before I did anything else.

Around 15 years ago, when Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way first came out, I wrote morning pages for months. They helped amazingly. I can't remember what I was writing at the time, but I do remember that writing morning pages made all my writing go well, for the rest of the day. 

About morning pages, Julia says:

Morning pages are about anything and everything. They are not like a journal. With a journal, you might set a specific goal: I’m going to write everything I feel about Jeffrey. With morning pages, Jeffrey comes and goes. It’s like you have a little whisk broom, and you’re taking it into all the corners of your consciousness.

Over the years, morning pages have helped me many times.

So, this morning, feeling rather pleased with myself for writing a couple of pages of the novel, I decided that from tomorrow onwards, it's morning pages for me... I know that they'll help me to clear my mind, and by extension, my life.

I'm committing myself to at least three months of morning pages, and after that, I'll see. 

What's your experience with morning pages? Have you tried doing them? How did it go?

Competent Writers Are Hard to Find: the Competition Is in Your Head

Every week, sometimes three or four times a week, a competent writer emails me complaining about other writers -- their competition. (As they see it.)

The message says something like: "I've been laid off from _______ (wherever.) I've been trying to get writing jobs, but the competition's too tough. Thousands of other writers have been laid off too, and..."

If you're looking at the world this way, please stop it.

Fact: you have NO competition.

None... 

I'm serious.

If you approach hunting writing jobs thinking that thousands of other writers are going for the same job, what's happened?

I'll tell you. You've just psyched yourself out. The competition, which you've created out of your feverish imagination, has just killed you. That competition is never real.

There are UNLIMITED writing jobs for you, and dozens of ways to get them, but if you persist in creating paper tigers and scaring yourself to death, you'll never find them.

I have a couple of questions for you:

1. Are you a reasonably competent writer?

2. Do you meet your deadlines with a smile?

News flash: those two attributes are amazing. And rare.

Keep reading. :-)

There's No Competition when You're You

Here's why you have no competition.

You're YOU. You have a unique worldview. 

Not only can you sell "you" online, you can make much more money than you could ever make at a boring day job.

All you need to do is discover what you want to write.

Dooce did it. 

Amanda Hocking did it. 

Think about what turns you on... it can be anything at all.

Once you discover your passion, you to can set to work creating your own writing job, OR writing for others, passionately.

Believe in YOU. Others will, when you do, but you need to believe in yourself first.

Get Angry: Fire Yourself Up

Reading between the lines in the email messages writers send me, they're sad, anxious and depressed.
If you feel this way, anger will help.

Get angry. 

Then channel that anger (passion) into your writing.

I wish you luck finding a writing job. There are thousands of writing jobs on the outsourcing sites. Get on a site, write, get feedback, write, get feedback... and before you know it, you'll have a income which makes you happy.

OR -- create a writing business. I'm running a series over on my freelance writing blog to help you to do that.

Just remember: there's no competition.

If you think there is, you're not giving yourself enough credit.

You are YOU. There's no one like you, and there will never be anyone like you.

Make the most of yourself. The opportunities are truly unlimited.

Boost Your Creativity and Your Income (Ezine)

In this week's issue of our make money writing tips ezine, we discuss ways to boost your creativity -- and your income.

Here's an excerpt.

Are you creative? I hope you know that you are. 

Sadly, many writers struggle with their creativity. Somewhere along the line, they've choked off their creativity.

You need ways to access your creativity every day... it's there, just waiting for you.

This week's ezine gives you easy, and powerful ways to access your creativity.

Try the techniques I discuss in the articles. They work, and as you boost your creativity, you'll boost your income.

This issue is out tomorrow. Enjoy. :-)

 

Niche Blogging: Your Key to Hands-off Income Every Day

Discover blogging the EASY way with created-for-you niche blogs. Creating niche blogs is fun, and very profitable. In the past, setting up a niche blog took me anywhere from a week to ten days, if I did it part-time. If I really focused, it took me as little as two days. Now I can do it in mere minutes. And you can too, with my brand new guide, Niche Blog Cash Explosion: Build Your Online Empire Today. This complete program builds your income step by step: create your first niche blog today.

Writing Job Opportunities in 2010 (and beyond): get ready!

Next week in Fab Freelance Writing Ezine our theme is Writing Job Opportunities in 2010 (and beyond). Our writing world is changing; the ezine gets you up to speed.

Here's an excerpt from the Editorial:

This year is shaping up to be a watershed in the media world. The move to digital is speeding up – and writing opportunities are changing too. The iPad is a bellwether of these changes.

The iPad is changing publishing
I'm sad, and a little angry, at the current state of publishing. Sad because newspapers and magazines are dying, and I know that few will survive in their current state. Angry because the changes that the Internet would bring to publishing were evident 15 years ago, but publishers thought that the world would stay the same for them.

But will the iPad really change publishing, and with it, the world of writing?

Yes, because although iPads were selling at the rate of 25,000 per hour when Apple opened pre-orders, the iPad isn't alone in the world of e-readers. Many other slates/ e-readers are coming to market this year.

The reason is simple: paper publishing is just too expensive. Books and other publications are going digital because the global financial crisis has hastened the end of paper and ink publications.

What does this mean for writers?

Read the rest next week; the issue is out on Tuesday.

If you want to be in the vanguard of writers who are READY for all the job opportunities digital publishing brings, join Sell Your Writing Online NOW (SYWON) now. Savvy writers are training up: they realize that the iPad portends a digital golden age.

Writer's block? Get motivated again

I've had several questions about writer's block this week.

If you're blocked, I gave you some strategies which will get you unblocked and motivated in this article Writing: Get Motivated to Write | Writing Hacker by Angela Booth:

"Often the reason you’ve lost your motivation is that your writing has ceased to be fun for you. It’s amazing that when you send an article query, you’re very eager to write the article, but a week later, when the editor calls you and gives you the go-ahead, you suddenly become completely unmotivated. You’re blocked.

This happens when you develop resistance. (We’ll discuss resistance in a moment.)"

Read that article if your block is longstanding, and you're just not motivated; the tactics work.

That said, here's a caution if you've been working hard: give yourself a break.

If you've been working hard on a project, slow down and relax. I've always found that if I've just completed a long project: a 6000-word sales page for one of my copywriting clients, an ebook, or a book proposal for a client, I'm done for at least a week. I need that time to rest, recuperate and recharge.

In that week, I don't work on anything exhausting. I work on small projects, and write blog posts. :-) Remember that when you're writing a long project, you've been laser-focused for a while.

It's impossible to keep working at that level, without creating a lot of stress. If you push yourself beyond common sense, you're storing up trouble. Sooner or later, you'll burn out and you'll be useless for months.

Therefore, before you get too down on yourself about a "block", think about what you've been writing. Perhaps you're just tired.

Want to make great money writing? Discover the secrets of high-selling, highly paid writers, for free. Each week, Angela Booth's Fab Freelance Writing Ezine is delivered in easy-to-print PDF format. Join the thousands of other writers who are using the information to change their lives. You'll learn how to write, and how to sell. Angela's been writing for 30 years, and shares her knowledge with you.

Writing and more: what do you want to see on this blog?

There's more involved in writing than writing, and I want to make this blog as useful to you as possible.

I was inspired by this post Lifestreaming Lessons - a 90-Day Report - The Steve Rubel Lifestream, where Steve says:

"Last night on the Long Island Railroad I drew up this mindmap in Mindnode on my iPhone. I appreciate alliteration. How would you feel about a structure like this where I theme the content based on the day of the week? Monday we tackle models and/or mindmaps, Tuesday we talk trends, etc. I want to post more often and more creatively than just writing"

I'm considering doing something similar for this blog -- map out a weekly schedule of posts, with a different theme for each day.

So, please tell me what YOU want to talk about. What's important to you about your writing, and in your life? Would you like to see:

* Posts on different forms of writing (books, novels, articles, copywriting, web writing)... and? What am I missing?

* Posts on self-improvement and self-management (goal setting and achievement, overcoming bad habits etc)

* Posts on writing and technology (favorite software, blogging etc)

* Becoming more creative (helps with writing and self-improvement)

* ?? Let me know in the comments...