Don’t Stress Out! – NaNoWriMo Daily Writing Tips
One form of writer’s block comes from being stressed. This is almost always a temporary condition, and there are ways to work around it, but much depends on the source of your stress. Let’s say for example that you have set aside your Saturday mornings to write, and suddenly you get news that your mother […]
The Loneliness Problem – NaNoWriMo Daily Writing Tips
I often look for similarities in great stories to see what works. One aspect that I see very often is that powerful stories resolve “the loneliness problem.” Normally, we are never told that our protagonist is lonely, but it’s there in the background: Scrooge is miserly old man in a musty house. Harry Potter has […]
Considering Crucibles – NaNoWriMo Daily Writing Tips
In everyday life, a crucible is a container used to hold metal or liquid as it boils. For example, to melt gold, one takes a heavy bowl made from steel and sets it in a fire. The steel, which can withstand higher temperatures than gold, doesn’t melt. But the small container quickly becomes super-heated, so […]
The Secret Power of Writing Groups – NaNoWriMo Dailies
One Sunday my wife suggested that we go for a hike, and we convinced my son Forrest to come with us. Now, I like to go for walks, but I’m not big on “hikes.” I’ve had too many unpleasant experiences on them, from taking accidental detours that forced me to walk an extra 30 miles, […]
Standing Out – NaNoWriMo Daily Writing Tips
A writer who had just begun brainstorming a novel wrote to me several years ago. He had an idea for a book, but while doing some research discovered that it had already been written. What should he do? Write it anyway, or look for a new idea? This is a complex question. I have another […]
Fixating on a Story – NaNoWriMo Daily Writing Tips
Remember when you were young and your mother or father read a favorite story to you over and over? Or do you recall that one book or movie that you wanted to read or watch again and again? Most people have a few all-time favorites. As a toddler, for me it was “Jack and the […]
Writing on the Run – NaNoWriMo Daily Writing Tips
Many wannabe writers are pretty sedentary. We tend to watch too much television, read too much, play video games too much, and chat online too much. When we do work, we sit too much. But over the years I’ve noticed that the most productive writers tend to have one thing in common—they exercise. One of […]
Taking Ownership of an Idea – NaNoWriMo Daily Writing Tips
As the lead judge for one of the world’s largest writing contests, I read a lot of stories. Very seldom do I see a completely unique concept for a tale. For example, I see a lot of stories that have vampires or werewolves or superheroes in them. I see tales about interstellar races, cloning, haunted […]
Beating Writer’s Block – NaNoWroMo Daily Writing Tips
Many writers never have a problem with writer’s block, and so we sometimes say, “There’s no such thing.” But that’s not quite right. The truth is, there are various reasons why people feel “blocked,” which makes it hard sometimes to figure out why a writer is having problems. Here are the most common reasons for […]
Keeping it Fresh – NaNoWriMo Daily Writing Tips
When you’re writing a long novel, sometimes as a writer you feel that you are getting stuck in a rut, that your prose has become repetitious, so it is important to find little ways to vary your work. Most often, writing teachers will suggest that authors write sentences or paragraphs (or even chapters) of varying […]
