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Quick Editing Tip

If you read a sentence that feels off but don't immediately know how to fix it, rewrite it. Sometimes, we get so caught up with what's already there that we don't realize there's a better way to approach it. Don't waste your time on an average sentence!

How to Come Up With a Book Idea

Maybe you've been wanting to write a book for a long time, but you didn't know where to start. Here are some ways to come up with a story.

Daydream. Just let your mind wander as you drive to work or wait in line and see where it takes you.

Think about the movies, books, and tv shows you love. Ask yourself what you like about them and try to build something of your own with these elements.

Start with your message. Not all books have a powerful takeaway, but sometimes it's good to ask yourself, "How do I want to make the reader feel?" and work from there.

Look up writing prompts. A simple initial idea can grow into a full-length novel in the right circumstances.

Imagine (or observe) an interesting character and think of their backstory. Why is this elderly man always at the same park bench on Mondays? When did that woman decide to become bodyguard? These questions can lead to your main character or a unique premise.

#writers on tumblr #writersblr #writing #writers

YOU Can Be a Writer

If you've ever considered writing a book but thought you couldn't, let me convince you otherwise.

Writing isn't a talent you're born with. It is a skill you can develop at any age.

There is no magical moment when you become a "writer". You are a writer as soon as you decide to be one.

You can be a writer even as a full-time employee, mother, husband, etc. Writing 15-30 minutes a day can get you farther than you'd think.

There is no such thing as a "failed" book. You learn from every project, especially the ones that go poorly. Don't be afraid of failure.

Someone will benefit from your story. Whether it's a friend, a family member, five million fans, or just yourself, someone will benefit from the story you have to tell.

#writing inspiration #writers on tumblr #writer #writers #you can do it

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the-absolute-best-posts

organicslut

crowsent

remember, this is for a DOOR lock.

remember that when picking a DOOR lock, you have to apply a little bit of pressure to your tension wrench (the thing that you use to turn the knob). too little or too much and you wont be able to pick the door open. you can use anything for the tension wrench. a bobby pin. bits of wire. a paper clip. etc.

its best to be completely silent when youre picking locks bc theres this small ‘click’ when youre picking that you might miss if youre using headphones or listening to music.

if youre picking one of these

you jam something thin and long above one of the rotation dials and you push up on the shackle.

. if its one of these

you get yourself some shims. (or make one. you can make shims out of fucking soda cans), you wiggle them in the tiny space between the shackle and the body of the lock, and you pop these suckers open.

. for a chain deadbolt,

you get something flexible but sturdy and you just push this fucker down

. for one of these rotating combination locks

you can also shim this motherfucker open. jam your shims between the shackle and the body and pry it unlocked. if, for some reason, you dont wanna shim it open, maybe you dont have a shim or you just like a challenge, this bitch can be decoded ridiculously easy. heres what you do:

spin this bitch to the right about two or three times to “reset” it. then you pull up on the shackle a bit, and turn it right slowly until you hear a click. your number is two spaces further. then you turn left 360 degrees until you land on the right number again, and start turning this motherfucker left until it stops. when it stops, turn right. if its loose, its the wrong number, keep going left. if its not loose, you have the right number, and you turn right all the way until this bitch pops

now you know how to pick several common locks!!!!! congratulations!!!!

whywontyoudiekingcracker

casspen-starlight

don’t mind me im just reblogging

spectralarchers

Yall need to look up the Lock Picking Lawyer on YouTube too, he’s amazing.

His videos are always so blazé, like ‘here’s yet another fucking disappointing lock to pick’ and he’s so good.

discowitchparty

@cackledaddy

just for your viewing interest

woman-of-letters-04

Completely innocent reblog

hyenagamer

The most non suspicious reblog

How to Write Characters of Faith

Do your research. It's painfully obvious when an author uses the first verse they found without bothering to learn the context or anything.

Write them as actual people. This shouldn't have to be said, but I'm going to because so many people write token Muslim or Christian characters. Like, that's not the only facet of their personality!

Let them doubt. Some seem to think religious people are so sure about everything that they've never even considered being wrong. Truthfully, most of us have questions about our faith and don't have all the answers. Allow your characters to have genuine conversations with others about their faith and doubts.

Avoid stereotypes. Please, please don't fall into the trap of writing with the familiar brush strokes Hollywood often uses to represent people of faith. Christians do not all think God hates gay people. Muslims do not all think the West needs to be destroyed. Characters that perpetuate stereotypes are damaging and reduce people to a single, misrepresented (or just flat out wrong) idea.

Don't use well known prayers all the time. It's not very creative/realistic to have a character clutch a crucifix and spout the Lord's Prayer as monsters close in. 99% of prayers (at least for me) are more like a conversation with God. "Hey God, I'm about to get eaten by a cyclops. I could really use your help right now," is SO much more realistic and more entertaining.

Don't always assume they'll wear a hijab, kippah, veil, or other religious covering. Not everyone is traditional. And if your character does wear one, please research WHY they wear it.

Get to know someone of faith. It's hard to represent people with whom you have no contact or experience. Build friendships with all kinds of people. Ask about their faith. Most of the time they'll be excited to tell you about their experiences!

I hope I've done a good job of expressing what we need to see more of in media regarding religious characters. If you have anything else to add, please do so!

"Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it."

- C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Unpopular Writing Advice

If you're stuck and not sure how to write the next chapter, try editing the previous one. It'll give you ideas on where to take the story or lead to small changes that will open a door for creativity.

Note: it's important to ONLY edit the previous chapter so you don't get stuck in an editing loop.

eleanorrigby312

Ten questions to ask a friend who just read your novel

Here are ten questions to ask that will not put your friend in a tough spot, but will still give you some useful input on your novel:

1. At what point did you feel like “Ah, now the story has really begun!” 2. What were the points where you found yourself skimming? 3. Which setting in the book was clearest to you as you were reading it? Which do you remember the best? 4. Which character would you most like to meet and get to know? 5. What was the most suspenseful moment in the book? 6. If you had to pick one character to get rid of, who would you axe? 7. Was there a situation in the novel that reminded you of something in your own life? 8. Where did you stop reading, the first time you cracked open the manuscript? (Can show you where your first dull part is, and help you fix your pacing.) 9. What was the last book you read, before this? And what did you think of it? (This can put their comments in context in surprising ways, when you find out what their general interests are. It might surprise you.) 10. Finish this sentence: “I kept reading because…”

Your friend is probably still going to tell you, “It was good!” However, if you can ask any specific questions, and read between the lines, you can still get some helpful information out of even the most well-meaning reader.

Source: Examiner

letswritesomenovels

This is really useful advice, especially if the person you’ve shared your story with hasn’t had much/any experience critiquing.

It does a great job of asking for a balance of both positive and negative feedback in a way that’s comfortable for both the author and reader.

Fear of Creative Rejection

"Releasing something to the public is an act of humility, vulnerability, and faith/risk. However, it is pride and fear that keeps us from sharing the creativity inside of us. The fear of rejection and comparison can cripple our creativity and make us feel like the work of our hands is not good enough. It will never be good enough.

But here is a secret to breakthrough: Understand that you are creating from journey, rather than destination. Don’t release your creativity like someone who has arrived but rather someone who is on a journey. Humble yourself and put yourself out there, making yourself vulnerable to critics. The risk will be worth it."

-Dan McCollam

Your book shouldn't be like real life

This is super hard for me to remember as a writer. I want my story to seem 100% realistic with no plot holes and no "convenient coincidences".

But then I remember this is a book I'm writing. Sure I want my characters to struggle to reach their goals, and I want the pace to rise and fall. That doesn't mean I should keep the chapter long scene of my MC searching the library and internet for answers (the details were annoyingly specific). Or the three scenes where I had him wait outside an alley for something interesting to happen (yeah, it was bad).

With books, people expect a certain amount of challenge for the characters and a degree of patient story development. But they also expect the plot to progress WAY faster than in real life. They expect to see the highlights (whether successes or failures) of the journey, and not every monotonous detail between.

In summary: make your story believable, but don't get caught up making it as tedious as real life; there's a reason people are reading in the first place.

#writing #writing inspiration #writing advice #my writing #writersblr #writers on tumblr

How Long Can Writing a Novel Take?

Writing a novel is no easy task. It can take years of chipping away one word at a time like a captive slowly mining a tunnel through the stone foundations of his prison.

So how long should this take?

I have good news for you. It’s entirely up to you. Some even better news: it won’t take as long as you think.

Let’s do some calculations.

We’ll start by assuming you only have 15 minutes of free time a day. The average person can write 40 words per minute (wpm), but that doesn’t account for staring blankly at the screen or deleting entire paragraphs that sound “off”. So let’s be conservative and say 250 words per hour (not fast by any means, but still respectable). Divide that by 60 minutes we get about 4 wpm. Multiply by 15 and we get 60 words a day. That doesn’t sound like much. Well, let’s think about this in terms of years and novels.

60 words a day * 365 days a year = about 22,000 words. Let’s multiply by 6/7 so we can account for taking one day off per week (which is good for avoiding burnout). We get ~18,750 words per year. We know the average book length is about 50-70k words. This means...

It would take about 3 years of writing 4 words a minute for 15 minutes 6 days a week to write the average novel (56,250 words).

“Three years??” you may be thinking.

First of all, that’s really not bad. Some people take 10 years. Some take longer. Secondly, 4 words per minute? That’s super easy. “Caleb sprinted down the hall. His heart pounded with every step.” That was 11 words. I rewrote it three times with different variations, and it took less than a minute.

So let’s increase our speed to just 12 wpm. Remember, the average person can type 3-4 times that speed.

So 12 wpm * 15 minutes * 365 days * 6/7 (for our day off) gives us 56,250 words in one year. To sum up, 15 minutes of writing a day at 12 words per minute will allow a writer to finish the average book in a year and we get a day off. Now we’re talking.

What if we decided to get up just thirty minutes earlier and write 45 minutes a day? Well, that would mean three times as much writing time, so three books in a year.

What about editing?

Good point. Much of writing is re-writing. We’ve done a lot of numbers stuff, but stay with me for one last calculation. If we allow the same amount of time for editing as we did for writing, we could just divide our total in half to get writing and editing time. So 12 wpm * 60 minutes a day * 365 days in a year * 6/7 days for a break / 2 to account for editing = 131,400‬ words. So...

If you spend 1 hour a day either writing or editing at a leisurely pace six days a week, you can write and edit two books a year (or one large one).

You can do the math on your own to match your personal pace. For example, I write about 1300 words an hour. I’m pretty busy, so I’ll say I only have half an hour. 1300 / 2 * 365 * 6/7 (I’m not giving up my day off!) means 203,357 words a year... I could write my first draft, rewrite it once, then edit it after that. All in a year. At half an hour a day.

I understand not everyone works like this. Some people need to write once a week for six hours in a row. Some people only write once a month, but they spend the whole weekend pumping out pages. I’m not saying you have to do it this way. I just want you to see how powerful small increments can be.

Writing a novel is difficult, but it helps to break it down.

15 minutes a day for a year is doable. 15 minutes. If you can do that, you can write a novel.

thatwritergirlsblog

Writing advice I don’t agree with

DISCLAIMER: This is my opinion

1. Passive voice is always bad

There are so many tests/checkers for identifying passive voice in your writing and it has become a rule to change every instance of its occurrence.

Why?

Yes, I get that it isn’t as exciting and makes your plot/characters seem passive rather than active. Maybe it doesn’t make for great prose.

But it does have its place.

I think that one/two/five passive voice sentences in a book are fine. Will you really get burned at the stake if you have the sentence “Her heart had been broken” in your manuscript?

Maybe I’m just missing something.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying every second sentence should be passive voice. I’m just saying that you don’t have to change every single passive sentence in your work.

2. Real writers write every day

Listen, I’ve been writing for thirteen years. I’m always working on a project and I take my writing very seriously. I AM a writer. But I don’t think there’s ever been a period in my life where I wrote every single day.

Yes, if you schedule time to write every day and you manage to stick to it, you’re amazing. And you’ll probably be published quicker.

But that doesn’t mean that other writers aren’t serious about their writing or aren’t “real” writers.

Sometimes, life gets in the way. Sometimes, your creative muscles are really tired and all your words come out crappy. It’s normal.

It depends on your energy cycle/other responsibilities/goals. If you are working on your WIP and making progress, you’re a writer.

Don’t be so hard on yourself. Jeez.

3. Only include what is relevant to the plot

I confess: I am an overwriter. My current WIP is looking to be 150k words, so I’m gonna have to do a LOT of cutting in the editing phase. So yeah, maybe I should take this advice.

But objectively, I don’t believe in the strict application of this rule.

If JK Rowling/J.R.R Tolkien only included what would move the plot forward, we wouldn’t have the amazing fleshed-out worlds of HP and LotR. The extra, interesting stuff is what makes those stories so amazing.

So, I think a much better way to think about this is: Only include what is relevant to your CHARACTERS’ LIVES.

If there is something awesome that your characters do/see that people don’t get to experience in the real world, tell the reader about it. If there’s some fantastical element about your world that the character would definitely notice, describe how the character experiences it. Live through your characters in the world you’ve created.

4. Every chapter should end on a cliffhanger

There’s this idea that each chapter should follow a formula: End with a tense reveal/cliffhanger > the next chapter opens with the character’s reaction to said reveal > the middle of the chapter is the mini resolution > the chapter ends with another tense reveal.

This is a great way to structure a chapter. But it gets tedious and overdone if every single chapter follows the same basic steps.

Ending EVERY chapter on a tense cliffhanger will drain your readers emotionally and numb them to the tense points in the rest of the novel. So, give your readers time to breathe and enjoy the less intense parts of your story too.

Have a few chapters that don’t end in absolute suspense.

5. Real writers don’t see writing as a business

“Real” writers are in it for the art. They live apart from the world of mortals and only care about fairy tales and castles in the sky. They are too pure and dainty and creative to concern themselves with something as mundane as money.

You are going to die of hunger.

If you agree with these pieces of advice, good for you. I just don’t.

Reblog if you agree. Comment with the writing advice you can’t endorse. Follow me for similar content.

promptsforthestrugglingauthor

Writing Prompt #1139

There was something off about the cave near the ocean, but no one could quite tell what. There seemed to be no consistency about when it filled up and emptied, despite the tides rising and falling the same way every day. No one ever truly got to investigate it, either, because they were drowned without fail before they had a chance to report their findings.

I, however, was determined to figure it out.

writingdotcoffee

#128: How Much Should You Care About Your Story?

Writing books takes time. A lot of it. It’s impossible to work so hard without becoming deeply invested in the stories we write. Our characters grow from mere ideas to fully-developed imaginary friends. By the end of the draft, they become part of our lives. Our memories of them are often indistinguishable from the memories of our friends and family. Life is busy, and we might even be spending more time with them than with our real friends.

Care too little and it will show. Readers can tell when you cut corners and merely string together set-piece scenes – a betrayal here, car chase there, couple extra explosions along the way. Like a film made out of a stock footage library. Passion is vital.

But caring too much can be equally dangerous. Become too attached to your story and you will probably never finish it. Nothing you write will ever be good enough for the mirage of perfection you have in mind. You’ll get stuck and keep rewriting things over and over again. You’ll cling to nonsensical details and refuse to admit that the whole premise of the story may be flawed in the first place. Your darlings will suffocate you.

Healthy detachment is just as important as passion. You’ve poured your heart and soul into the story; spent weeks, months, even years writing it. It can be devastating to see the rejections coming in (and there will be many).

Your ability to let go is crucial so that you can write the next story and the one after that. That’s how you hone your craft and write even better stories. In a way, the best thing you can do for your story is not to get too attached to it. And maybe one day many years from now, you will finally be able to do it justice.

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Past Editions

#127: Doin’ It Right, January 2020

#126: How Long Does It Take To Write A Book?, January 2020

#125: Journaling As a Form of Time Travel, January 2020

#124: 5 Inspiring Reads to Kickstart Your 2020, January 2020

#123: 2019 on the Blog, December 2019

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