Sep 20
Story ideas are everywhere but how do you find one that can sustain and excite you through the long process of writing an essay, novel, or even a short story?
Here are three earlier blog posts (including some exercises) to help you find what works for you:
Don’t write what you know, write what sets you free
Lately, I’ve been overworking my left brain. In the last week I’ve had to learn a new software program, learn a new webinar system, prepare and host a webinar, and finish my business taxes, which required me to learn a new form that took three phone calls and one hour to figure out what the taxman wanted.
This morning I’m officially back to living in my right brain and my current work-in-progress. During all my left brain activity, though, I did manage to keep my sanity by taking a few short play breaks.
Here’s one below: a two-minute video of Dusty the house cat who at night turns into Clepto. Watch to the very end to see the funniest part!
Not only did this make me laugh, but it gave me a great idea for a character. Have you seen anything funny or playful lately that sparked a creative idea?
Sep 14
Writer’s Digest recently offered a webinar on how to plot a novel by the Plot Whisperer, Martha Alderson, that I found very helpful. Alderson has a YouTube channel with 27 short videos for each step of the process.
The first video in the series is below (she says to ignore the barking dog in the background).
If you’d like to view more of her videos, her YouTube channel is: http://www.youtube.com/user/marthaalderson
And the remaining 26 videos for her plot tutorial can be found here.
Enjoy!
My massage therapist is an artist in every sense of the word—he does fantastic bodywork AND he’s a sculptor and painter. Recently, he told me a story about when he was in art school.
He was working on his first painting and between each layer of paint, he’d dip his brush in the varnish and then paint another layer. When he was done, the piece almost had a 3D effect with all the layers of paint and varnish. It was a beautiful accident.
During class, the instructor praised his work in front of the other students and mentioned the “intentional” effect he created. My massage therapist smiled and nodded, as if he meant to do that. Read more
Sep 10
Last week, I wrote about how to acquire a creative mind via a short video by creativity coach Eric Maisel. In this 2-minute clip, Maisel discusses how artists make meaning from their lives through creativity. He says we cannot give up on our creativity without hurting ourselves.
A good point to keep in mind for those times when we feel like chucking our laptop out the window or feeding our latest work-in-progress to the garbage disposal.
Sep 6
I’ve had a hectic couple of weeks and, as a consequence, have felt frustrated with the lack of progress on my current manuscript. Though I know what I need to do—set aside some quiet time, ditch the negative self-talk, and get more rest—sometimes it works better to hear it from somebody else.
In this 4-minute video, creativity expert Eric Maisel discusses a process for acquiring a creative mind. He explains how thinking small, unproductive thoughts can literally crowd our minds and prevent us from having those big brainstorming ideas.
Enjoy! Read more
Successful writers know not to “info dump” on their readers. In other words, they don’t stop the flow of their story to give the reader paragraphs or pages of detailed information.
Information dumping or fire hosing, as I like to call it, slows down the story, the narrative, and everything else. When I come across a book that stops to describe, in great length, a new character—everything from their looks to their clothing—I cringe. If it happens close to the beginning, then I know it’s going to be like this the entire way through.
I finally had to stop reading one fantasy series because every time the main character changed clothes, we had to read about it. The sad part is that the storylines kept me interested, but I just couldn’t read one more time about the protagonist’s favorite pair of Nikes. Read more
onewildword 