Category: Writing Tips

You Need a Writing Habit

Posted on by Joel D Canfield

Hey, before we start, I don’t want you to miss this opportunity because today, Friday January 31st 2014 is the last day to register free for Publishing Bones, a support site for writers. Go register at http://publishingbones.com/free-registration.

Willpower will not keep you writing. The most powerful tool to keep you writing when writing gets hard is a habit.

A writing habit is the single most important thing you can do for your writing.

[image: photo http://www.sxc.hu/photo/673861 by Maria Luisa Gutierrez http://www.sxc.hu/profile/cornnius” width=”200″ height=”263″ class=”size-full wp-image-3379] habits: they’re where it’s atHabit.

Not schedule.

Not support.

Not tools.

Not free time.

Not passion.

Not a contract.

Habit.

Here are the best books I know which explain why, and tell you how to create habits. … more … “You Need a Writing Habit”

Nice Guys Make Boring Reading

Posted on by Sue L Canfield

[image: edges]Great character advice from Steven Pressfield in the form of a question:

“How close are they to the edge?”

When a character teeters on a knife-edge, we can’t take our eyes off them.

My characters feel a bit safe. For my light mysteries, that’s okay. For the deeper Chandleresque cozy I’m working on, Jake needs to be closer to the edge.

But wait and see what “edge” he’s close to.

Dave Bricker: Writing is Design

Posted on by Joel D Canfield

[image: avoid boring words]Dave Bricker specializes in interior design and layout for books. This doesn’t stop him from being a writer as well. A writer who brings design sense to his word choice.

You can, too.

Writing is Design: Boring Words & Generic Descriptions — Not Nice!

Favorite Bits of Storytelling Advice, and Questioning Maslow

Posted on by Joel D Canfield

Art Holcomb posting at Larry Brooks’ StoryFix blog: Smart list of 20 things you may not have thought about when writing. I particularly like #5. How ’bout you?

[image: photo http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1242703 by Leonardo Barbosa http://www.sxc.hu/profile/leonardobc]

Steven Pressfield: Blowing Off Maslow Here’s my take: we often confuse our “wants” with Maslow’s “needs.” Where Maslow says “food” we want to read “eating out” or at least “eating well.” Where Maslow says “shelter” we see a 3-car garage, or at least, a home we own rather than rent.

Maslow was right. We just twist his research into excuses not to do the work of making art. But go read the article at Steve’s site and see what you think.

What Question Can You Answer Best? (Guest Post by Phil Wrzesinski )

Posted on by Sue L Canfield
I’ve known Phil for some time. His intense love for his family sometimes outshines the fact that he is a brilliant marketer and incredible teacher.

[image: ?]My first book started writing itself the day a local childcare owner asked me, “Phil, I shop a lot, and I have to say, your store has the best customer service I’ve ever encountered. What is your secret?”

The short answer was simple. I hire good people.

She pressed me further. “Can you do a presentation to our Child Care Association about it?”

Sure.

Now I needed a longer answer. Fortunately, the answer was there and pretty soon I had a presentation and the outline for a book.

The funny thing is that I never set out to write a book. I think the book had a life of its own, born when the question was asked. At least a dozen times throughout the process I wondered what made me think I was capable of writing a book. Mostly I ignored that thought and kept writing. After all, I was just answering a question.

Your business has the answer to a question, too. There is something you do better than most other businesses. You have a philosophy, a reason, a method for why you do what you do and how it makes your business better. It may be one of your own design, or one you stole from someone else, or one you pieced together from several sources. Someone has probably already asked you why or how you do what you do.

You just have to start writing it down.

My second book started the same way – with a question.

… more … “What Question Can You Answer Best? (Guest Post by Phil Wrzesinski )”

The Language of Young Adult Fiction (Guest Post by Cheryl Campbell)

Posted on by Sue L Canfield
Say hello again to Cheryl Campbell, YA author with an unusual perspective I admire.

Burnt Mountain The Monster Within was born from an idea that I wanted to try to write a story that my niece (at the time 5 years old) and nephew (at the time 3 years old) might enjoy as teenagers. I figured this would give me plenty of time to come up with something, and plenty of time to figure out how to get it done. I had never written a book before and had zero clue about how to do it. So I sat down, jotted some notes, typed a few pages, and kept chipping away at it. Many revisions later it started to take on some shape.

As I kept going, the shape became more recognizable as a story. I was watching movies and reading a lot to figure out what made the stories that I loved so great. Lord of the Rings, both the books and the movies were key factors in my research. Star Wars also ranked at the top. What I loved so much about them was the way they crossed all age groups. Anyone, any age could get in to see Star Wars. No profanity. No sex. No graphic violence. Both franchises had movies with some violence, but none of them were rated R.

… more … “The Language of Young Adult Fiction (Guest Post by Cheryl Campbell)”

Stop Stopping Yourself with Premature Edits (Guest Post by Rosanne Bane)

Posted on by Joel D Canfield
Please welcome Rosanne Bane, author and writing coach and one smart cookie. Since I’m not here to beat this drum she’s gonna do it for me.

Trying to edit while drafting is like trying to polish your shoes while walking. Actually, it’s more like trying to polish your shoes while trailblazing over rough and unmapped territory. It takes longer to get where you’re going, you can’t possibly get a good shine and you’re almost guaranteed to lose your balance and fall.

[image: photo http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1110158 by Michal Zacharzewski http://www.sxc.hu/profile/mzacha” width=”444″ height=”145″ class=”aligncenter size-full wp-image-3080]

“Short Cuts Make Long Delays” – J.R. Tolkien

Your brain stem and limbic system can do more than one thing at a time, which is why you can walk and chew gum and still notice cars in the crosswalk. But your cortex, your creative brain, simply cannot multitask.

… more … “Stop Stopping Yourself with Premature Edits (Guest Post by Rosanne Bane)”

Self-Publishing 101: Q & A with a Ship’s Master

Posted on by Joel D Canfield

Beginners ask about things some of us take for granted. It’s useful to review the questions and answers to be sure we haven’t missed something which seems self-evident to others.

[image: Sergiy Kalyuzhny]I had a long online chat with Sergiy Kalyuzhny, Master at Marlow Navigation, Ukraine. He’s writing a non-fiction account of an event we haven’t fully discussed yet (though I sure hope Sergiy lets me help with the book so I can read about it.)

Since I’m posting late today, as penance, I’ll share the whole thing instead of splitting it into a half-dozen posts.

… more … “Self-Publishing 101: Q & A with a Ship’s Master”

I Don’t Write My Best Writing

Posted on by Joel D Canfield

[image: original photo http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1406545 by Caesantana http://www.sxc.hu/profile/Caesantana” width=”128″ height=”512″ class=”alignright size-full wp-image-2738]I dictate it.

Many of the authors I work with are concerned about whether or not their typing, spelling and grammar skills will get them through a 70,000 word book. It just doesn’t matter. “Writing” doesn’t have to mean writing.

The surest way to get your book or blog post finished is to use the method that’s easiest for you. If you type a thousand words a minute like Best Beloved does, you should type — if you enjoy it. If you prefer scribbling longhand in a notebook, do it. The extra step of having your work transcribed, whether by you or someone else, will probably take less time than struggling to use tools and methods that feel unnatural to you. Even if that’s not the case, using tools and methods that make you struggle diminishes your art.

When Best Beloved was too ill to work with me, writing was excruciating. I’ve been a writer and a coder most of my life. Just because I type 50 wpm doesn’t mean I like it.

… more … “I Don’t Write My Best Writing”