Hi writers! So glad to see you back at Solivagant Writers!
Last week we talked about five habits I thought every writer should have and this week I will be continuing on that subject with five more honorable mentions.
1. Writers' wonderland: Pinterest.
Okay. Truth-be-told, it's a wonderland for everyone, but I, as a writer, have found it more than helpful. It's a great place to find tips on writing, inspirational photography, writing prompts, research, character ideas, and writing blogs. I use it almost every time I go to write.
I found a writing group that meets up on Twitter every Wednesday night at 9 called @StorySocial. The chat connects all sorts of writers as they give and receive writing advice for a whole hour! Story Social is also a blog advertised on Pinterest.
I think a Pinterest account is a must for every writer. It's full of so many inspirational pins and is a helpful tool for writing. One of my writing-themed boards has over 25k pins on it. I have a research board, a crime-writing board, a character board, a board of interesting words, two Instagram boards, author boards, a story idea board, some blog boards, boards about specific books, and boards about creating worlds. Yeah... I may or may not be addicted to Pinterest.
One of the boards I frequently add to and visit is my character board. It's packed with headshots of models, actors, and even random Instagramers. The board helps me visualize my characters better so I can describe exactly what I see them in my head. It's also a little bit fun creating a book where George Clooney or Julia Roberts are the main characters.
I can't say enough for this amazing social media site. It's a real game-changer for writers. The information that writers before the 90s needed to scour the library shelves for are now at our fingertips and all for free! Pinterest is a great writing tool and we should take advantage of it.
2. Writing prompts.
As I mentioned, Pinterest is a good place to find writing prompts. It just so happens that prompts are another habit that writers should practice.
This is a prompt I got from Pinterest: The lights go out for five seconds. When they turn on again, you see a note stuck to your window. It says one word. "Run."
Let's say you had to write one paragraph on this prompt. What would you write? As a writer, so many ideas would come to your mind as to where you could go with it. There are so many good plots lines, characters arcs, and twists that this prompt offers. But remember, you can only write one paragraph.
Being disciplined with a word limit will help your mind find a way to make five sentences contain more than five paragraphs. Writing prompts exercise our imaginations like lifting weights strengthens our body. If we keep doing it enough times we'll be better equipped to pick up a heavier weight.
Writing prompts can also aid our minds to reach out of the box for writing ideas. It's helped me with some conversation cues and character depths, but it can also assist with so much more. Encouraging the writer to try new genres is one of the things prompts does best. It almost dares you to run with it. I've been intrigued by prompts in genres that I've never seen myself writing in before, but I've had so much fun exploring.
That's another thing, prompts can be a lot of fun to write. It's too much work to create a whole other idea, world, and characters only to play with it for a few pages before getting bored and returning to your actual writing project. Prompts are like a gift box in that way. It has a set of characters to play with, a scene to act out, a setting to paint, and a storyline ready to be written. Yeah, prompts are pretty great.
3. Research = reality.
Research is the key to reality when writing any book. Since research is already required in the writing process you might be wondering what else it could do. But research is worth more than we give it credit for. A lot of writers research only what they think they need to know before writing. This isn't necessarily bad, but writers who do this miss out on the full potential it has. Researching subjects that peak your interest before you need the information, will inspire more novels on the topic. With no deadline on the information for the novel, you are able to plunge into the research and get all it can offer.
I recommend setting a monthly or bimonthly time just to explore knowledge, either in books or on the internet. This will give you the freedom to explore possibilities outside your novel. Maybe even encourage you to venture out of your own genre or further the knowledge you already have on other topics.
The habit will teach your mind to store information, letting it boil like a pot full of water on a stove. Then it will only be a matter of time before it boils over and voilà you've got yourself a #1 New York Times Best Seller! See the real goal of this habit is to take research beyond just aiding in the growth of a novel but actually birthing it.
I literally started writing a book from a date on an old newspaper. I took that date and researched the heck out of it, only to find in the obituaries a mysterious "natural" death of a healthy forty-year-old. I loved the idea but unfortunately went nowhere with it. The main character for the idea, though, didn't die but instead urged another book idea. This one had more possibilities and lit my inspiration on fire. The idea became my current project, NUMB, and it was solely birthed out of raw research and some good-old-fashioned curiosity.
Knowledge is priceless and using it only when we think it necessary will hold us back from new, untraversed genres and ideas that this world has yet to see.
4. Writing scene by scene.
Writing scene by scene ensures that every page has a point that will propel the story along. In one of my other current projects, Pilot, I'm writing the book scene by scene instead of chapter by chapter. This format has helped me execute the story's plot better than the normal structure. I feel that the goal is easier to achieve.
If I only have an hour to write I know I can at least do a scene or two. Now, don't get me wrong, just because they're faster to write than chapters doesn't mean that all scenes are only a few paragraphs long. The length of a scene is determined by the writer. For me, a scene is the camera's viewpoint in a movie or show. When the camera switches perspective from capturing a conversation between to characters to a long view of a skyscraper is, in my definition, where the scene ends.
I once watched a movie where the whole thing, except for five minutes, was shot in one room. You probably think that the movie must have been incredibly dull, but to the contrary, it was one of the best movies I've ever seen. What a scene can contain is up to the writer. If you want it five chapters long then, by all means, do it!
Writing in scenes also helps me sidestep the unnecessary rabbit trails that a writer often takes. It gives a purpose to each and every paragraph I write. The downside, though, is that because they all have a purpose there's no fluff to move the story along smoothly. If I was to ever publish Pilot, I would have to piece the scenes together like layers of a cake, then smother frosting in between them to make it more attractive. But the scene by scene structure does shave off a lot of time during the editing process because you don't have paragraphs or even chapters that do nothing to further the plot.
The reason I even thought of writing scene by scene is that I found an outline on Pinterest. (See how Pinterest keeps magically popping up?) At the time I had a deadline for the beginning of Pilot. Writing scene by scene cut the time it would usually take me to write the amount that I did. I recommend that every writer should try this even if they want to write chapter by chapter this outline can still be applied.
Scene # :
What needs to happen in this scene:
What would happen if this scene got omitted from the story:
Who needs to be in this scene:
Where could this scene take place:
What is the most surprising thing that could happen in this scene:
Is this a long scene or a short scene:
Summary:
Beginning:
Middle:
End:
This outline made me assign a purpose to every scene I wrote. I've been writing this way for a year now and it hasn't failed me yet. I do understand though, that this outline and the scene by scene structure might not work for every writer. But if it's a habit that could eliminate countless hours of nonsensical chapters then why not give it a try, right?
5. Daily word count.
Having a daily word goal helps writers finish books with intense deadlines. Now, this is a crucial habit that I have failed to pick up thus far in my writing venture. I need too because I understand the importance of being disciplined in your writing. I think when faced with a make or break situation in a writer's career, that this habit will help sway odds in the writer's favor. If you want to become a published author, then owning this habit will seal the deal. The consistency of writing every day definitely trains the writer to produce books at a faster pace, as well as tests their dedication to their work.
Having a word goal and daily routine is a way to continually challenge yourself in your writing. There is always room for growth in our writing and we should never shy from it. But don't get carried away by challenging yourself too much. If you were a newbie to weight-lifting would it really be wise to attempt to lift a fifty-pound weight when you haven't even lifted a ten-pound one? Most definitely not! It is just as unwise to challenge yourself to a two-thousand-word daily goal when you haven't even achieved the two-hundred one. Challenging yourself is always good but do it wisely.
When you are trying out something that is new and difficult, always set the goal just a little bit above what you know you can accomplish. Then after a week or so of reaching it, you can set the goal just a little bit higher and so on.
A daily writing goal is a powerful weapon every writer should use, just know that wielding it won't look the same for you as it does for other writers.
- A Fellow Solivagant Writer,
Bethany Lord
I hope you were able to glean some helpful tips from this weeks post! Please leave your thoughts in comments and share this post on your social medias. Thank you so much for joining us and supporting Solivagant Writers!
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