Posts tagged ‘Alan Watt’

Jul 18

Using difficult emotions to make your story stronger

Seven months into the year, and I realize I’ve been through so much: the passing of my mother, our two-week remodel that turned into nine-weeks, a mini-family reunion, and both expected and unexpected travel. I’ve had many different stressors and felt a gamut of emotions: sadness, grief, fear, love, joy, fatigue (well, maybe that last one isn’t exactly an emotion, but it should be!)

As I work on my next book—imagining my story and going deeper into my characters—I realize that my seven months have been a blessing, in more ways than one. Read more

Nov 25

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Give yourself permission to play on the page

Sometimes, I take the title of “writer” too seriously. I worry and fret about my stories and characters. I stress out that every choice I make is the wrong one. When I get in this mode, I forget the joy of writing. I forget why I write in the first place. Writing, I’ve discovered, is not for the faint of heart. This is why I’m so excited as I read author Alan Watt’s book, The 90-Day Novel: Unlock the story within.

Instead of promoting a stiff set of rules for finishing your first draft in 90 days, Watt encourages writers to spend a good amount of time loosely playing on the page. He has a list of prompts or questions to write about from the protagonist’s and/or antagonist’s point of view. He suggests setting a timer for five minutes per prompt and just writing down what comes, not worrying about whether or not you’re going to use it. Read more