When you're stuck, when your writing sense has run dry, try this three minute miracle to get words flowing again.
For the first minute, close your eyes. Imagine that you're blind. When you can't see, what senses become paramount? Then, open your eyes and write down this experience. How did you think and feel for that sixty seconds?
For the second minute, plug your ears. When you can't hear, what happens to your world? Imagine, being deaf for your entire life. What would your existence be like? Envision it, then write it down.
For your third minute, select one of the remaining senses and imagine your life without it. What if you couldn't taste, feel or smell. What if your spiritual senses did not exist?
What if you had no imagination? If you couldn't write with your hands? Imagine it then put pen to paper and record your experience.
These may seem like nightmarish scenarios, but that does not have to be the case. In your mind, other senses may rise and shine, taking over with powers that make up for the sense that is missing.
The point is to use your imagination to experience life without senses that you take for granted.
Each of your senses is a miracle. Without them, what would you do?
Asking these questions acts as a reset button for your writing sense. Try this three minute miracle. Afterward, you may write with more power than ever before!
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Friday, August 17, 2012
When Content is Key
Quality content is key to drawing readers into your book or story. Almost half of those that used to read have been distracted by alternate sources of entertainment over the last three decades, reducing the pool of fans that used to follow specific authors. Our remaining readers are much more refined. The depth and breadth of education has honed their sophistication and discernment, when selecting literature.
In fact, it’s never been more vital for a writer to write well.
With this in mind, think about the following advice for building great content. 1) Write a lot. Prolific writers are much more likely to hit it big with their works. More books on the shelf translate directly into more sales at the register. But, there is another benefit. The more you write the better you get at writing. Think of yourself as an Olympic athlete. Practice really does make perfect. 2) Select an editor with a mindset that matches your own. Just because you’re a good writer doesn’t mean you’re a good editor. Even if you edit for a living, it’s wise to hire someone else to edit your work. Why? Because personal literary works are the hardest things to view objectively. So, hire an editor. A good one! 3) Learn about and use social media. A great book for those of us that are social media challenged is The Digital Handshake. Written in simple, easily understood language, this book will walk you through every marketing scenario that may confront you on the web.
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Write What You Are
Sometimes budding writers don’t know what or who to write about. If you’re stymied by a lack of inspiration in the “what or who” categories, take a moment to imagine yourself in the story, both as a character and as someone experiencing the new world you desire to create.
Many authors have fielded questions about which character is their character. The truth is that the writer is every character, from philosopher to villain to magician to hero. When you allow your mind to “become” a character, you can see, think, feel and do (in your imagination) what that character would do.
This is a popular technique with actors. It’s not enough to know your lines and take your mark. You must have a running dialogue in your head while delivering your lines, a dialogue that gives “meatiness” to your character and meaning to their words and choices.
This kind of mental fingerprint makes a character real, to both author and reader. It is easier to develop such knowledge about character if we stop worrying, scribbling and trying to meet deadlines.
Relax, lock yourself in the bathroom, and find a way to connect with your inner self where interruptions are more rare than common. When you do this, the “what and who” information you need will simply flow into your mind, with harmony and fascination.
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Developing a Productive “Mindset” by Farland
For today’s kick, I’m pulling a lot of material from an article that I just got from my son’s college. It summarizes the philosophy of Carol S. Dweck, Ph. D., as expressed in her new book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. So let me paraphrase, pulling some sentences from the article, changing others to suit my audience here:
‘There is a common myth in our society that those who achieve in life do so because of superior talent, intelligence, or other forms of giftedness. Scientific discoveries, technological innovations, and success in business or artistic endeavors can come almost automatically to those who “have it” (whatever “it” is). Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck refers to this way of thinking as a “fixed mindset” and suggests that for many students it is the cause of a great deal of anxiety and failure to learn. ‘For students with a fixed mindset about themselves, any setback is evidence that they don’t have “it,” that they are not cut out for the endeavor in which they are struggling, and this creates discouragement. (For example, if writers think that only “gifted” people succeed in their fields, and they struggle, then they presume that they must not be talented enough and often stop trying.) Since imperfection suggests permanent personal failure, they also hesitate to ask for help or look for new ways to succeed. ‘The other side of the coin is what Dweck refers to as the growth mindset. Artists with this perspective see achievement as a process of growing through persistent effort. They know their early works will be fraught with mistakes and may never be “perfect,” but, like an infant learning to walk, they are willing to learn from their mistakes and move forward. They see their writing as a process of continual improvement rather than an evaluation of their character or personal worth; so they are less distressed by setback or failure. They are also less embarrassed about sharing their mistakes or consulting with others in their efforts to improve.’ I like Dweck’s philosophy. It sums up something that I’ve believed for a long time. Too often as writers, we evaluate our work and fail to see our own talent. An author who has a gift for characterization doesn’t even notice it, but yearns to have a stronger poetic voice. Or perhaps a writer whose prose is naturally clean and evocative wishes for a more elaborate style. Or a novelist with a gift for profound philosophical insights wishes that he could write steamy romantic interludes. Whatever. You get the idea. But developing the ability to write is a process. We gain one skill upon another. Even the greatest among us don’t have all “gifts.” Some of Shakespeare’s work seems so beautiful and profound, it’s ethereal. But he wrote pages and pages of drivel to get to that point. Sometimes, he even manages to sink to the level of dreck. Ben Johnson, the greatest of his contemporaries, found Shakespeare’s writing to be almost incomprehensible to the common man, and felt that he needed to learn to rewrite. Johnson was right. But when Shakespeare hit his stride in a passage, no one was better. Every great painter—Picasso, Rembrandt, Van Gogh—has a few epic works. Yet always the “old masters” have hundreds or thousands of pieces that don’t rise to the highest level, and are thus forgettable. Don’t let your own masterpieces go unwritten. Learn to unlock the writer inside. Consciously work at developing your own unique skill set. You’ll be surprised at what you can accomplish.
‘There is a common myth in our society that those who achieve in life do so because of superior talent, intelligence, or other forms of giftedness. Scientific discoveries, technological innovations, and success in business or artistic endeavors can come almost automatically to those who “have it” (whatever “it” is). Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck refers to this way of thinking as a “fixed mindset” and suggests that for many students it is the cause of a great deal of anxiety and failure to learn. ‘For students with a fixed mindset about themselves, any setback is evidence that they don’t have “it,” that they are not cut out for the endeavor in which they are struggling, and this creates discouragement. (For example, if writers think that only “gifted” people succeed in their fields, and they struggle, then they presume that they must not be talented enough and often stop trying.) Since imperfection suggests permanent personal failure, they also hesitate to ask for help or look for new ways to succeed. ‘The other side of the coin is what Dweck refers to as the growth mindset. Artists with this perspective see achievement as a process of growing through persistent effort. They know their early works will be fraught with mistakes and may never be “perfect,” but, like an infant learning to walk, they are willing to learn from their mistakes and move forward. They see their writing as a process of continual improvement rather than an evaluation of their character or personal worth; so they are less distressed by setback or failure. They are also less embarrassed about sharing their mistakes or consulting with others in their efforts to improve.’ I like Dweck’s philosophy. It sums up something that I’ve believed for a long time. Too often as writers, we evaluate our work and fail to see our own talent. An author who has a gift for characterization doesn’t even notice it, but yearns to have a stronger poetic voice. Or perhaps a writer whose prose is naturally clean and evocative wishes for a more elaborate style. Or a novelist with a gift for profound philosophical insights wishes that he could write steamy romantic interludes. Whatever. You get the idea. But developing the ability to write is a process. We gain one skill upon another. Even the greatest among us don’t have all “gifts.” Some of Shakespeare’s work seems so beautiful and profound, it’s ethereal. But he wrote pages and pages of drivel to get to that point. Sometimes, he even manages to sink to the level of dreck. Ben Johnson, the greatest of his contemporaries, found Shakespeare’s writing to be almost incomprehensible to the common man, and felt that he needed to learn to rewrite. Johnson was right. But when Shakespeare hit his stride in a passage, no one was better. Every great painter—Picasso, Rembrandt, Van Gogh—has a few epic works. Yet always the “old masters” have hundreds or thousands of pieces that don’t rise to the highest level, and are thus forgettable. Don’t let your own masterpieces go unwritten. Learn to unlock the writer inside. Consciously work at developing your own unique skill set. You’ll be surprised at what you can accomplish.
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