#Insecure Writers Support Group - 10 Quick Tips to get that book written.

First Wednesday of the month already! Time for the IWSG again! Thanks Alex J Cavanaugh for starting this group. 

Fellow emerging writers, here's some advice I picked up from Elizabeth Sims in the Writer's Digest recently. It encouraged me, so I will pass it on. Of course, I've put my own spin on it...

10 QUICK TIPS TO GET THAT BOOK WRITTEN:

1. PAINT A TWO-STROKE SCENE

- Make one stroke visual - SHOW something.

- Make the second stroke evoke one of the other four SENSES: a sound, smell, taste, feel...

You want examples?

The rooftop was studded with chimneys. A cold wind whipped in from the harbour.

She got pregnant that same muggy night. The cracked vinyl of the Buick's back seat left claw marks on her shoulders, and she remembered the dark smell of the plowed field next to the open road.

Your turn....

2. NAIL A CHARACTER IN TWO MOVES

- Give each character a distinctive physical trait. Some memorable traits include:

* Huge hands

* A graceful gait

* A painful stoop

* Fiery red hair

* Thick bi-focals

Your turn...have fun...

- Give each character a distinctive psychological trait.

* Extremely competitive

* Annoyingly calm in all situations

* Willing to be a martyr

* Insecure about not having a university degree

* Secretive about his/her wealth

Your turn...let your imagination run riot...

Alternate showing the two traits you choose the first few times we meet the characters. Doing so will create a mental anchor for your readers.

3. FICTIONALIZE A REAL PERSON BEYOND RECOGNITION IN TWO STEPS

I first heard this advice at a Writing Course. It makes characterisation easier and more real, I was told.

- Change the person's sex.

- Make the fictional character much more physically attractive than the real person is. Then let loose and make the character as despicable as you wish.

4. PLUG A PLOT GAP WITH ONE OR TWO TRICKS

- Ignore the gap completely and hope no one notices. Even successful authors do this all the time. In Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep, he admitted even he didn't know who killed the chauffeur. 

- Acknowledge the hole then instantly keep going. Successful fiction is studded with sentences like...

* I don't know why I'm telling you this, but...

* She didn't know how she did it, but she managed to scale that vertical steel wall and run to the car.

Have some fun with this. Will save you time and energy plugging up gaps...

5. SHIFT A MOOD WITH TWO QUICK STROKES

Mood is really about emotion, both in characters and readers. 

Check out Muriel Spark's sentence from The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie:

The evening paper rattle-snaked its way through the letter box and there was suddenly a six-o'clock feeling in the house.

- So how do you shift the mood in two steps?

Using quick writing tips mean more time for this...
Photo taken using Instagram

* First, present ONE detail. Spark used the evening paper coming in. You could use a little event like that, too, or you could use something that is physically felt by a character.

* Then, simply announce the mood change, as Spark did. The word suddenly is your friend here. 

More examples...

^ I heard the first bird sing from the morning darkness, and suddenly I felt that everything would be all right.

^ As soon as he reached the embankment, the hairs on his arms stood up. Even before looking down, he realized, Yes, death is here.

To be continued...

And I must share that today is the first day of the Brisbane Writer's Festival. Always good to celebrate books, authors and readers. The school groups were out in force...

• We like our posts relatively short for IWSG, so I will continue the final 5 tips next IWSG post. Have creative fun with these tips. I hope they help you in your WIP.

Go here to read more IWSG entries...

NaNoWriMo - 1/4 of the way - How do you write? In chapters or scenes?

Well here we are, 1/4 of the way through NaNoWriMo. With the outline I have, I'm ready for my second story spark, which sets off the action into the next 1/4 of my story. I must say it feels strange to be working with a loose outline instead of just a vague story idea, but my story is still developing well as I write. How about you?

This NaNo I've been writing in scenes instead of chapters, because in a first draft who knows where a chapter ends/begins? It is one of the first things to be rearranged in a revision and takes so much time.


So I don't know exactly how it happened but I've been writing scenes - SCENE - POV - PLACE - TIME etc like in a movie script with END OF SCENE. A great way to keep track of POV as I can get confusing with this I'm told. This also helps when I don't have a fully-fleshed outline for my story - I know I want a scene about this or that, so I'll be able to put them together when I want in the future when I get the sequencing right.


Clarissa Draper over at Listen to the Voices posted about writing in scenes recently. Go to this direct link to read her great post - ahem, not yet, how about finishing mine first?

If you're still here, I like Clarissa's movie talk. Think about it - a director doesn't shoot movie scenes in order - he/she just knows the scenes he/she wants - so do I. However, I missed the vital part that Clarissa inserted into the mix - acting out your scenes. Hmm, I can see that's a great idea when no one's around! Thankfully I don't have many people in a scene so far.
 
So when I write a scene I get enthused, asking myself what will the next scene look like?
 Clarissa's advice is to act out the scene yourself. Take on the character roles, spouting their lines. Clarissa says: 'Move around. You'll be surprised how quickly you cut out the unnecessary characters - especially if the scene involves dancing or running a marathon.'

Yeah, I totally get it Clarissa. Think I'll keep my characters sitting around drinking...something...


Wouldn't it be great if the book you write this way is picked up for a movie? Easier to see its potential for film if the scenes are tight and fast moving.

Happy writing all and I hope I've helped someone today...

Denise

This post is part of the NaNoWriMo blogline. Go here to read more NaNo stories...