Author: Jeremy

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We hope you enjoyed: Why You Shouldn’t Be Worried that You’re Stuck Writing a Scene You’re Obsessed With!

Better Show Don’t Tell Examples and Tips

March 15, 2021March 15, 2021 ~ Jeremy ~ Leave a comment

Better Show Don’t Tell Examples and Tips

So you want to be a better writer? And you think that learning how to better show and not tell will do it for you.

Well…

You’re right.

If you read the tips in this post and practice them over the next 3 months you WILL be a better writer.

Stop using “has.”

You might write something like this, “John has broad shoulders and brown hair,” but don’t instead find a way to show us John’s features.

“Candace turned around to John’s big shoulder in her way. “Excuse me Gronk, could you please watch where you’re swinging those things? You about bowled me over.”

John looked into the mirror brushing his brown hair back, trying to get it to swoop just right, “Sorry Candace, I didn’t know you were gonna turn around like that. Besides you’ve been in the bathroom for over 15 minutes. You’re gonna make the rest of us late.”

It is sooooo easy and tempting to just tell us what a person looks like, but if you find ways to get it out in detail without using has or is, you will teach yourself how to write better descriptions than 95% of writers.

(That’s not a scientific stat. I just made it up.)

But the point is you’ll definitely be a better writer and you’ll feel better writing out most descriptions too.

Stop saying “is.”

Don’t say, “Jamie is obsessed with Carter.”

Say something like, “If you were able to walk into Jamie’s room, you might mistake her for a stalker. You also might call Carter and warn him that Jamie is probably a dangerous person. If you counted up the photos that were printed off of social media of Carter in Jamie’s room it would add up to 104 photos and that’s excluding the categorized photo book hiding underneath Jamie’s bed.

Before you think, “that’s normal for a girlfriend to be a little obsessed with her boyfriend, Carter is not Jamie’s boyfriend.”

This isn’t the most amazing writing, but it portrays the point well. Don’t tell your reader that so and so is this or so and so is that. WRITE IT OUT.

It is difficult at first and it takes more time and thought to get what you want to say out there, but if you force yourself to write this way, your audience will enjoy the way you show them what’s going on instead of telling them.

You’ll do yourself a favor if you get rid of thought-verbs.

What are thought-verbs?

Here’s a list of thought-verbs:

Knows
Thinks
Realizes
Believes
Wants
Remembers
Understands
Imagines
Etc.

There are a lot of them and you would do your writing skills a favor and be a pro at “show don’t tell” if you cut them out for the most part (granted there are places for these, but sparingly, and the more you force yourself not to use them the better. The more you rely on them the more it can be a cop-out.)

The thing with thought verbs is that your reader is the one who should imagine and think these things and realize them as you show them what’s going on.

For example, “Sam knew that Josiah didn’t like Karen.”

Instead of allowing the reader to “see” why Sam knew that Josiah didn’t like Karen, we’ve been lazy with this point when we could have come up with reasons WHY Josiah doesn’t like Karen or WHY Sam knows. (If it is an important point to the story or adds to the interest then try to put details into it instead of using thought verbs.)

Instead, we should give the reader evidence to follow for this statement first. We should feel like we have to PROVE it to our readers.

“Sam and Josiah sat down to have lunch. Karen immediately plunked down next to them. Sam saw Josiah’s expression drop. Karen immediately started talking. She talked about the news, the weather, and various things and never once asked either of them any questions. She just talked.

Sam tried to be polite and nod along with her and smile at the right moments, but he could see by Josiah’s expression that he had tuned her out. Eventually, Josiah just got up and left. Karen turned to Sam, “Did I say something wrong? Is he mad at me for some reason?”

Sam still trying to be polite said, “I’m not sure. I wouldn’t worry about it. He probably just has to use the restroom or something.”

This could use some editing but we get to see that Josiah doesn’t like Karen and we immediately get to see some reasons why he might not enjoy her company: she sits down uninvited, she doesn’t let them talk, she talks too much without asking questions or listening. These are normal human behavior that might not be malicious, but can often be taken as rude or annoying.

This can be done with any verb that is used to tell a reader what a character is experiencing without actually telling the reader why they are experiencing it.

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“Don’t leave your characters alone.”

I don’t 100% agree with this advice. I’m biased though because Cast Away and I am Legend are some of my favorite stories. This is definitely the outlier and not the norm.

I understand the advice though. Not leaving your characters alone very much is an easier way to avoid thought-verbs. When your character is alone it is more tempting to just tell the reader what the character is feeling, thinking, and imagining rather than trying to show them.

It is almost like we put ourselves in a corner and there is no way out without telling the reader what is going on in our character’s head, but we can get around this even if we decide to challenge ourselves with a solo character story or scene.

“John sat in his hotel room worried that Sarah wouldn’t make it in time.”

Instead, try to show them John’s feelings about his current situation. If John’s worried, he’s not gonna be kicked back eating a bon-bon watching Dr. Phil.

He might be pacing, looking out the window, or checking his watch.

“John was alone in room 102. He kept looking thru the window curtain with one eye to see if Sarah was in the parking lot. Each minute passed by like an hour. He kept checking his watch. After 34 minutes had painstakingly gone by he started to sweat. He went into the bathroom and turned on the sink to cold. He splashed cold water on his face and tried to breathe, just breathe. His entire body jolted when there was a knock at the door.”

Personally, I think a scene where our character is alone is the perfect way to add power to the crisis or moment that otherwise might have been missed if we didn’t put the character into a solo situation. We can talk about what they were experiencing and use description to show our readers what they were feeling.

It also can make a scene feel more intimate when we are alone with the character. As a reader, an alone scene can be a powerful moment for us to connect with a certain character. We get to see them at their most vulnerable moments: when they are alone.

So in my opinion don’t shy away from solo scenes, just remember that it’ll be just a bit harder to really get some ideas of what they are thinking and feeling across, but in the end, this could add more emotion to the character that can make our reader feel closer to them.

Final thoughts

In general, the resounding advice here is to watch out for just throwing in a verb to tell our reader about a character’s thoughts or feelings. If we go through our writing and see that we have used a lot of verbs to tell our reader stuff we should go back and try to prove to the reader in the details and describe why that statement is true.

Lead your reader to the thought. Then if you decide you still want to state it as a fact, you can.

“Tom was waiting for Carol at her locker with a bright white smile. “Hey, babe. I missed you at the game last night. I got you these though.” Tom handed her a box of nerds. Carol let out a little squeal of excitement and ripped open the box. They started walking together. They both went to the same gym class.

“You want some?” She said with her mouth half full.

“Nah, you enjoy every last one.” It was little things like this that made Carol love Tom. He always did little things to make her day better, to make her happier. She couldn’t count on her fingers and toes all the things he had done for her in the past year together. It seemed like he was never concerned about himself and she had never found that in a guy before.

Derek her last boyfriend, asked her almost weekly to write a song for him about how much she loved him. Needless to say, that relationship didn’t last too long. Tom wasn’t just “her type.” He was different than any other guy she had ever met.”

In the example above, there is some showing and some telling. I didn’t detail or describe every single verb or action I chose to talk about. It would get a bit ridiculous if you did this. But I did show reasons why Carol could subjectively have feelings of love for Tom before ultimately choosing to still state it, “It was the little things like this that made Carol love Tom.”

And you don’t have to show and then tell. You don’t have to throw in the statement at the end, but the point here is you can if you still want to.

And that is how I would address most “Rules” in writing. They are meant to help you write better, but knowing when and how much to use them is important.

The important takeaway from tips like these is that you will be a much better writer if you force yourself to acquire the skill of proving the statements you want to make with actions, details, and descriptions for the readers to see in their imagination.

When you are able to pull this writing skill out of your bag of tricks then you will be able to discern when to use it and when to cut back on it. Just because something is good doesn’t mean you should use it always and everywhere.

“Thinking is abstract. Knowing and believing are intangible. Your story will always be stronger if you just show the physical actions and details of your characters and allow your reader to do the thinking and knowing. And loving and hating.” – Chuck Palahniuk

This post was inspired by Chuck. Chuck has some amazing writing advice that will put you leagues ahead if you take it to heart and practice what he teaches. Shout out to Chuck! Thank you, Chuck!

Source.

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That’s all for now.

Hope this helps!

Happy writing!

Another Post you Might like:

Mythical Creatures | 7 Tips on How to Write Mythical Creatures

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Already own a blog? Using Adsense? Use Ezoic. Make 5X – 10X more on ads with Ezoic! See for yourself. – These ads use machine learning. Set it and leave it.

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How to Tell Good Feedback in a Writing Group & Not Offend Anyone

March 12, 2021March 12, 2021 ~ Jeremy ~ Leave a comment

How to Give Good Feedback in a Writing Group & Not Offend Anyone

Are you in a writing group? If so everyone is probably expecting you to know how to give good critiques. One might even call them positive critiques where it is not offensive, but it is also not pointless fluff.

It’s not always as easy or fun as it sounds. A professor was once quoted saying something like, “as a critiquer, if what you have said causes a person to stop writing, you have failed. You have failed because you have stopped a creative person from creating.”

I agree with this somewhat. I think that we shouldn’t quit just because one person said something mean to us, but I do agree with the sentiment that it is up to us what comes out of our mouths.

I also agree that words are powerful. Because of this, it’s important for us to figure out how to give good critiques on other people’s work.

Positive criticism vs negative criticism.

Negative criticism is easy. It’s not clever or wise and it’s easy to spout out, “this is literally trash. Please throw it in the garbage on your way out. And please do the world a favor and stop writing.” That was easy and takes 0% brainpower.

Words like these are not just mean but are of no help whatsoever.

When we find someone’s work that isn’t so good, we would do them and maybe the world a disservice by telling them that they could never be an accomplished writer.

What do we know? With some hard work and practice, this person could be a great writer. So instead, be patient and teach people.

Positive criticism might sound like this, “in this paragraph, the word choices are slightly confusing. Maybe try to come up with simpler sentences that make it more obvious what you are trying to say.” Maybe even throw in some specific examples of how you might word something if they are willing to hear it.

Give them criticism that is NOT mean, but that is practical.

With advice like this, they could possibly reread their entire story and realize many places that need revising. One positive critique could radically change their entire story for the better.

One negative critique could crush their spirit and desire to continue writing, which would be sad.

They may be really bad or might never make it as a writer, but who am I to decide that?

Don’t just point out the bad.

Point out things that are bad and try to give them a solution for it.

If you can’t give them good advice on how to fix a problem, don’t just point out the problem.

Also, try to point out things you like too!

I learned this from a mentor, “for everyone one critique you are going to give a person, try to point out 3 positive things you can find.”

While this formula doesn’t work out perfectly every time. It is helpful to keep in mind.

You should try it the next time you think of criticizing someone. You might be surprised how they react to your criticism in a more understanding way.

And don’t just butter them up. Be genuine. Telling them what’s working in their writing is just as important as telling them what you think should be cut.

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Be specific with characters.

One thing we can help each other out with is character critiques.

If we do this, we need to be specific.

If I’m going to tell someone their character is cliché, I can’t just leave it at that. I need to try to say why it’s cliché, what other characters they remind me of and give them some ideas on how to make this character more unique.

Don’t just tell them what you don’t like about the character. Give them ideas on how to make the character better.

Also, if we tell them why we don’t like a certain character, then they’ll be able to tell if it’s just us or if it’s something they really do want to change. Maybe they wanted that character to be cliché. If this were true then they could be encouraged in their writing knowing that it is being perceived the way they meant it to.

Create dialogue.

We’re not talking about dialogue in the writing.

We’re talking about creating a conversation with the writer.

Creating a conversation about their work is so much more beneficial than just getting out strict statements, especially in a writers group.

Remember that there are more ears in the room than just the writer’s. In a writing group, we are all there to learn from each other and with each other.

What you say about Jill’s writing could be really great advice for a block in facing with one of my characters.

If that happens, when it’s your turn to talk confirm that with the group, “when you said this to Jill, I realized I was doing the same thing with my character and I can do this instead.”

Saying things like this to the group will bolster comradery and help others feel more confident to have open conversations about their writing and others.

In a writing group, we are all there to learn from each other and with each other. Click to Tweet

Try to be vulnerable.

Most people want to be vulnerable. But it’s scary.

We as humans have an instinctual desire to be known and heard, but we all have emotional walls.

When you are able to be vulnerable with the group and it’s well received, this makes other people in the group feel comfortable to be vulnerable too, especially with you.

Start with things that aren’t mega sensitive or scary and see how it goes. Don’t let all your insecurities out in one long monologue. Just start with a little vulnerability and see if it’s helpful or harmful depending on the group.

If you find that this group is extremely closed off and harsh it might be a good idea to find a different group.

The next time you are in a situation to give a critique on a person’s writing try to remember to be honest and them what’s working and what isn’t.

Be vulnerable about what you’re learning and what you’re struggling within your own writing.

Focus on trying to create conversations in the group and try not to be tempted to just focus on your writing. Give everyone a chance to share and get help too.

Enjoying How to Give Good Feedback in a Writing Group & Not Offend Anyone? Take a moment and consider sharing this social-friendly image to say thanks and feel free to comment with your thoughts below! 🙂

Want to get paid to write? Check out Writing Paychecks

There is a simple method over 30,000 people use to get paid for freelance writing online.
Opportunities can get started in just minutes a day, all from your home couch.
It’s easy to get started! No previous experience or degree required to start.
Exclusive job listings for writers, updated daily.

Check out Writing Paychecks to see if you can start getting paid to write today.

That’s all for now.

Hope this helps!

Happy writing!

Other Resources You Might Enjoy:

How to Start a Blog in 11 Simple Easy Steps in 2020

How to Write a Book: 32 Tips | Your MASSIVE Guide How to Write a Book

Interested in starting a blog of your own? Check out Bluehost.

Already own a blog? Monetize with Ezoic. Make 5X more on ads with Ezoic! See for yourself. – These ads use machine learning. Set it and leave it.

Make sure your posts are readable. Use this readability score check

Want to check out a writer’s community to test your writing and get feedback?

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Join Amazon Prime Music – The Only Music Streaming Service with Free 2-day Shipping – 30-day Free Trial

Get Unlimited Music for Free (30-day free trial):

Free Baby Registry:

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Want to get paid to write? Check out Writing Paychecks

We hope you enjoyed: How to Give Good Feedback in a Writing Group & Not Offend Anyone!

What Are Your Writing Insecurities?

March 9, 2021March 9, 2021 ~ Jeremy ~ Leave a comment

What Are Your Writing Insecurities?

You write for yourself of course, but there is a small part of you that wants to publish. But why don’t you?

Most of us, as writers, struggle with insecurities. (I take that back, EVERY writer struggles with some insecurities, even famous ones.)

What are our insecurities and how do we overcome them? Or at least, how do we confront them?

Fear of rejection.

This is a big one and it plays into many human decisions. We might not ask out that person we like because we fear them saying no. Maybe it would be better to just never ask them and then they’ll NEVER be able to SAY NO.

While this is true, we’ll also never know if they would have said yes…

There is a saying, “You miss 100% of the opportunities you don’t take.”

This applies here.

If we fear rejection so much that we never put ourselves out there as writers then we will never know if our writing would have been a success.

And ask yourself, what if just one person really loved your story? Would that be enough for you to publish?

Look for that one person and write and publish for them.

Fear of failure.

Fear of rejection and fear of failure go hand in hand but are not quite the same.

If we fear we are going to be unliked, made fun of, laughed at, etc these are fears of rejection.

Fear of failure is more about setting a goal or accomplishment that is really important to us and then it going wrong and us not achieving that goal.

We are afraid to fail.

We want so badly for this to work out that the fear of it not working out paralyzes us and we instead decide to binge on Netflix or play a video game. We procrastinate to not feel the pressure anymore.

The fear of failure attacks many of us but the truth is we might not fail. The other truth is, what we are afraid of happening (failing) will happen if we don’t try.

We will 100% fail at becoming a successful writer if we don’t try to be a writer at all.

But at least if we try there is a chance we will succeed and readers will love our stories.

Don’t deprive your potential readers.

Fear of inadequacy.

This can fall into two categories. The fear of just not being good enough and the fear of being too young or not knowing enough.

Let no one despise you for your youth. Just because you are young doesn’t mean you can’t learn to write a story well and come up with ideas that people will love.

Feeling like we don’t know enough and wanting to learn is better than feeling like a know-it-all and not learning anything.

A common trait with successful people is their desire to continually learn.

Don’t be afraid to search for knowledge and wisdom and use it once you understand it, no matter what your age.

There is a simple method over 30,000 people use to get paid for freelance writing online.
Opportunities can get started in just minutes a day, all from your home couch.
It’s easy to get started! No previous experience or degree required to start.
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My story isn’t worth telling.

This is common and falls into the feeling of rejection. “No one will like my story,” is actually a statement of predicting the future.

Can you without a shadow of a doubt know 100% that no one will like your story? Not one?

This to me seems to be a good excuse to not do something that makes us nervous. What would happen if we put the thing out there anyway?

What if people love your story? Would you really keep it from them?

Our insecurities can really weigh us down and slow us down, but what have they done for us in a positive sense? Nothing I can think of.

“They saved me from the emotional pain of rejection and failure.” Did they really? And can you prove that?

No, we, unfortunately, cannot prove that. What we can say is that we never tried because of our insecurities and so we have failed.

Or, we can start today, right now and put our work out there and see what opportunities come our way.

We most definitely might get hurt.

We might fail.

We might get rejected a million times but at least we can know we tried and didn’t give up.

Enjoying What Are Your Writing Insecurities? Take a moment and consider sharing this social-friendly image to say thanks and feel free to comment with your thoughts below! 🙂

Want to get paid to write? Check out Writing Paychecks

There is a simple method over 30,000 people use to get paid for freelance writing online.
Opportunities can get started in just minutes a day, all from your home couch.
It’s easy to get started! No previous experience or degree required to start.
Exclusive job listings for writers, updated daily.

Check out Writing Paychecks to see if you can start getting paid to write today.

That’s all for now.

Hope this helps!

Happy writing!

Other Resources You Might Enjoy:

How to Start a Blog in 11 Simple Easy Steps in 2020

How to Write a Book: 32 Tips | Your MASSIVE Guide How to Write a Book

Define Self-Esteem for Writing Characters: 10 Ideas

Covert Narcissist and Why You Should Write One

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Mythical Creatures | 7 Tips on How to Write Mythical Creatures

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Interested in starting a blog of your own? Check out Bluehost.

Already own a blog? Using Adsense? Use Ezoic. Make 5X – 10X more on ads with Ezoic! See for yourself. – These ads use machine learning. Set it and leave it.

Free Prime Membership Trial:

Join Amazon Prime Music – The Only Music Streaming Service with Free 2-day Shipping – 30-day Free Trial

Get Unlimited Music for Free (30-day free trial):

Free Baby Registry:

Make your Free Amazon Wedding Registry:

Want to check out a writer’s community to test your writing and get feedback?

Make sure your posts are readable. Use this readability score check

Want to get paid to write? Check out Writing Paychecks

Enjoying What Are Your Writing Insecurities? Take a moment and consider sharing this social-friendly image to say thanks and feel free to comment with your thoughts below! 🙂

We hope you enjoyed: What Are Your Writing Insecurities?

Is It Dark Writing or Is It Edgy Writing?

March 5, 2021March 5, 2021 ~ Jeremy ~ Leave a comment

Is It Dark Writing or Is It Edgy Writing?

There is a bit of controversy between the two and it’s up to speculation about how to divide the two into and describe each well.

In my opinion, the best description is this: edgy is dark for the sake of being dark whereas dark is dark for the sake of being real.

Do you prefer edgy or dark writing?

For me personally, I prefer dark. I’d rather consume something like Fury than a story that’s just trying to push the envelope.

Edgy has to be done extremely well in order to not just become cheesy at some point.

Realism is at some points refreshing and enlightening. Of course, this can go too far and there is a cliff not worth jumping off of, but for some dark stories, it just makes sense that the story is dark. It’s not trying to be dark, it has to be.

Stay true to the world.

When a story is dark it may be set in a world full of war and turmoil. When it gets dark the point should be to stay true to the world and the story.

The Book of Eli is a good example of dark in my opinion. It’s an apocalyptic setting and its dark events transpire in a realistic way for how the writers told the story.

You can tell when something starts to get edgy. The writer writes in scenes that were unnecessary but will bring about a feeling from the audience they want. For scenes like this, you can look no further than the Tremors franchise.

A man will get eaten in an outhouse, not because it’s a realistic scenario, but because the writer wanted someone to get dragged into the bottom of an outhouse. And then a scene later a character can have dialogue that makes a cheesy joke about it.

There is a simple method over 30,000 people use to get paid for freelance writing online.
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Edgy wants to pick up jaws.

Edgy is always looking for the next shock factor or gross-out factor. The point is to make as many jaws drop in 30 minutes as possible.

They go from scene to scene and want things to get so chaotic that you feel emotionally tired by the end of it.

It’s like riding a roller coaster of the story where the main plot isn’t really the point. The point is to get you to be shocked at least 5-7 times from the beginning to end.

They’ll try to tie up loose ends and make it coherent, but in the end they really just want you to be shocked by what they came up with.

It’s like going to a carnival instead of a museum. One is entertaining because of deep meaning and realism, whereas the other is meant to entertain with continually quick cheap tricks.

They both can be fun in different ways if done right.

What’s the point?

If we want to write something that is dark it is okay to have sad and hard times in the story. Even things that are realistically hard to deal with like material in Hacksaw Ridge or Saving Private Ryan.

In the end, though, there has to be a point to it, and we have to be sure it isn’t in unnecessary gross amounts.

If we want to step into edgy then yes we are going to push those boundaries and push into writing scenes that don’t have a point other than to shock the reader.

What type of audience are we drawing in.

If we write more dark novels our audience might turn out to be an audience of more deep thinkers that are looking to see the true happenings, thoughts, and feelings of reality.

Even readers that want to see the reality of works that aren’t their own.

If we write edgier we are entertaining an audience that is looking more for cheap thrills.

Both are enjoying your writing and they could be a part of the same crowd.

I love Fury, but also very much enjoy something edgy like MadMax. Just depends on what you’re feeling at the moment.

In the end, it comes down to what you want to be perceived as something that creates stories.

Not saying one is better than the other, but it might be worth thinking about. (I do think edgy is harder to do well, but can and has been done.)

Do you want people to look up what you’ve written because they are looking for a quick cheap thrill, or do you want to appeal to an audience that is killing for a deeper look into the stories you’ve created?

Enjoying Is It Dark Writing or Is It Edgy Writing? Take a moment and consider sharing this social-friendly image to say thanks and feel free to comment with your thoughts below! 🙂

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There is a simple method over 30,000 people use to get paid for freelance writing online.
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Happy writing!

Other Resources You Might Enjoy:

How to Start a Blog in 11 Simple Easy Steps in 2020

How to Write a Book: 32 Tips | Your MASSIVE Guide How to Write a Book

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How to Write a Great Sequel

March 1, 2021March 1, 2021 ~ Jeremy ~ Leave a comment

How to Write a Great Sequel

Why does writing a sequel feel like a completely different task than the first book?

It’s the same characters, just a different part of their lives. Or it is a continuation of the same big story. It’s really up to you.

If we didn’t already have a sequel in mind in the grand scheme of things then it might feel strange to even begin this idea.

Pretend it’s not a sequel.

In order for a sequel to be really good, it has to have the strength to stand on its own.

It can’t just be “the sequel” and rely on book one thinking that’ll be enough for readers to enjoy it as they enjoyed the first one.

And for goodness sake, DO NOT make it a bridge to the next book. That is the most annoying type of sequel. Its entire existence is just to get you from one major plot point to another without anything major happening. Worst idea ever. (If you can’t tell I’ve been burnt a time or two by bridge sequels.)

The best sequels are enjoyable on their own beginning, middle, and end. They have their own major conflicts. They have their own merits. While also fitting into the larger narrative.

Don’t play too heavy into recaps.

Don’t assume you have to do the readers’ work for them.

When things tie back into the book, it should be in a way that if they did the digging for themselves they’d find it. It needs to follow the history of the story but you don’t have to continually remind them, “remember how johnny said he had a device 2 months ago? Well, this is it.” -this is really a poor way to bring back up something of importance.

Instead, just bring it up naturally and expect them to put two and two together. “Johnny pulled the amulet out of his satchel and set it into the hole in the stone, “I hope this thing works.”

It won’t take the reader out of the moment and they will either remember the things you want them to or it’ll make the overall series more clever with links tying them together.

(This isn’t a rule, more like a guideline. C.S. Lewis, I think breaks rules like these at times, but it adds to his voice and style of writing a good story.)

Just fyi: this recapping is a controversial idea. Some readers like a recap chapter as the first chapter and some hate it. You’ll have to decide for yourself what’s right for you.

Sequels are tough.

In reality, sequels are hard to get right. On average they are almost always not as good as the first.

If our first story was good, there is a high expectation on our second. This often leads to letdowns.

For most of our readers, the second just won’t be as good as the first.

For me, that happened a lot with movies. The second of a movie I really loved was almost always a letdown.

But that’s why it’s important to keep going. I didn’t like the second of one thing, but I loved the third or fourth. So just don’t get stalled. Keep creating.

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Don’t get stuck.

When trying to write the sequel it can be easy to get lost in the actual writing of it.

This can lead to perfectionism and getting writer’s block because we are afraid we aren’t getting it just right.

Instead, put brackets around the stuff you don’t love and KEEP MOVING FORWARD.

It is so important not to stop for perfection’s sake. Come back and edit it later with a more clear view of the entire story and what is necessary, compared to waiting around for inspiration to strike.

It’s like waiting for lightning to strike the same spot twice. Sometimes you gotta make your own storm and push through.

It’s so much easier to fix a bad draft later than it is to wait for the perfect sentence to come about on the first try.

When writing a project, it’s so much easier to fix a bad draft later than it is to wait for the perfect sentence to come about on the first try – just get it onto the page and lean on your editing process. Click to Tweet

Being critical is important until it isn’t.

Most of us can agree. “We are our own worst critics.”

We see our work and think it’s REALLY bad. Our friends or loved ones read it and say, “I love it!” But deep down inside we doubt everything.

Even successful authors constantly struggle with self-doubt during creation.

There’s a story of an author that runs into Steven Speilberg in a mall. And Spielberg tells him how much he loves his work!

You’d think this guy would never second guess his work again, but by his own account within 10 minutes he again struggles with his own idea of being a good writer.

For most of us, we know that we are only as good as our last book or project. If the next one is a flop, welp, “I guess we really never were that good.”

This line of thinking is so subjective. It has nothing to do with potential. So what if we wrote one success and then the next one flopped. Learn what didn’t work and start on the next one.

Maybe even throw the world a curveball and self-publish an edited version of the flop and give the audience what they really wanted. Nobody is doing that. They try to sweep their mistakes under a rug of social minutia like, “They didn’t like my writing because their “sexist, racist, bigot, homophobic, non-religious, too religious, heterophobic, they smell funny, their grandma told them it was bad!”

It’s time for us to stop expecting everyone to like everything.

Just because a person or company creates a story revolved around certain social issues doesn’t mean the entire world has to praise and support it.

That’s just lazy writing.

If we are in the storytelling business, some people will like it and some people won’t. Don’t be so over-critical of yourself that you get paralyzed and can’t write anymore. On the flip side, don’t worry so much about what other people say that you stop writing altogether.

And don’t be so arrogant as to not take any criticism whatsoever.

If you wrote something niche that only a few people and yourself like, then enjoy it. If you want to appeal to a larger audience then you have to SERVE larger audiences with your writing.

At the end of the day when we are writing a sequel, it’s not about us. It’s about entertaining our main audience.

If we flip the script on them, we shouldn’t be surprised when we get some pushback.

If we want to write a great sequel we need to give them more of what was given in the first book and we need to make it worth their time.

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That’s all for now.

Hope this helps!

Happy writing!

Other Resources You Might Enjoy:

How to Start a Blog in 11 Simple Easy Steps in 2020

How to Write a Book: 32 Tips | Your MASSIVE Guide How to Write a Book

Inspiring Quotes | 101+ Inspirational Quotes to Motivate You Today

Inspiring Quotes:

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How to Write a Book Review

February 28, 2021February 28, 2021 ~ Jeremy ~ Leave a comment

How to Write a Book Review

Do you love to read? Maybe you’d love to write book reviews? You might be surprised to learn that both readers and writers could be interested in what you have to say about books.

Other readers want to know what other readers think about a book before they invest their time and money into it. Book writers want to get sincere and good reviews for their books. Sometimes an author will give you their book for free for a review and sometimes people are even willing to pay you to give an honest, sincere, and fair review.

Tell your readers what the book is about.

It can be hard to figure out where to start with a good book review. So an easy place to start is at the beginning. Tell readers what the book is about. Don’t give away too much information, but try to give them a vague but important overview of what they are headed into.

Include something that creates curiosity for the reader.

In writing, they normally call this a hook. You might think, “why do I need to have a hook in my review?” If you want to be someone that others look to for good reviews and maybe getting free books or paid for it then you are going to want to get good at drawing readers into your reviews.

If you master the ability to create a longing in the reader to try the book you can become an asset to writers for a good book review.

Include some quotes.

Don’t overdo it with quotes, but one or two really good ones can go a long way.

Mention books that are similar.

You might say something like, “If you loved Harry Potter, you are in for a real treat.” When you drop the name of something you genuinely see as similar you let the reader know right away they can look forward to a book or they can cast it aside as something they wouldn’t really enjoy.

You might think you wouldn’t want to send anyone away, but that’s not necessarily true.

By sending away people that won’t like it, you actually help the author avoid bad reviews and comments about their book and you actually draw in good and 5-star reviews for the writer. This is more valuable in the long run than just a few more people reading the book.

Don’t lie with big claims.

To be honest, if you say something like, “This is the next Harry Potter!” You are probably going to get eye rolls and not a few, “YEAAH Right…”

Try to avoid big claims that will cause some people to walk away because the claim is just too big and also will cause some to have too high expectations and be let down.

Tell people what you liked about the book.

Sometimes it is easier to list off the reasons you liked the book and leave it at that. Many times people will look forward to a book for the same reasons you did.

Don’t be afraid to say what you didn’t love about it.

You don’t have to slam the book, but if you say a couple of things you didn’t like about it, potential readers will really appreciate your honesty and candor. They might even decide to read it based on what you didn’t like about it.

Recommend the book to people you think would enjoy it.

Go ahead and think of people that would like the book and why. You might say things like:

If you are a dog lover this book might be your type.
I’m not a swimming enthusiast but you might be.
If you love thrillers, this book is for you.
Do you love classic monsters? You’ll love this book.

Give it a rating if you can.

If you give the review on Amazon it already comes with this built-in, but if not, feel free to give it a number out of 5 or 10.

Keep it brief.

You’re writing a book review…NOT a book and not a book about a book. It’s just a review. Make every sentence count for something. Don’t be long-winded with a book review. Say what needs to be said and tie it up pretty.

Use simple words and simple language.

It should be easy for a 6th grader to read your review and understand it. It may be tempting to throw in some big words and try to galvanize (impress) people with your wordsmithery. Don’t give into this temptation.

Break it down into 3 simple steps.

To make it REALLY simple focus on this template:

Summarize the book briefly without giving too much away.
Tell people what you liked and didn’t like about it.
Recommend it to certain people and rate it.

Don’t be mean.

There is no reason to be mean or nasty about the book. Even if you hated it, it won’t benefit you to burn any bridges. Try to find one or two points you liked about it and focus on that or politely ask that you can be exempt from giving the review.

Don’t forget to check for typos.

When it’s all said and done, don’t forget to check your review for typos! Make sure your points are clear and concise.

Should you follow a certain format for a book review?

You don’t have to but if you want a simple one to follow you can structure it like this:

“Classic book review structure is as follows:

Title including a complete bibliographic citation for the work (i.e., title in full, author, place, publisher, date of publication, edition statement, pages, special features [maps, color plates, etc.], price, and ISBN.
One paragraph identifying the thesis, and whether the author achieves the stated purpose of the book.
One or two paragraphs summarizing the book.
One paragraph on the book’s strengths.
One paragraph on the book’s weaknesses.
One paragraph on your assessment of the book’s strengths and weaknesses.”

Source.

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That’s all for now.

Hope this helps!

Happy writing!

Other Resources You Might Enjoy:

How to Start a Blog in 11 Simple Easy Steps in 2020

How to Write a Book: 32 Tips | Your MASSIVE Guide How to Write a Book

Inspiring Quotes | 101+ Inspirational Quotes to Motivate You Today

Inspiring Quotes:

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Are There Really Writing Rules and Should I Break Them?

February 27, 2021February 27, 2021 ~ Jeremy ~ Leave a comment

Are There Really Writing Rules and Should I Break Them?

It came up in a discussion recently that there aren’t any formulas or rules to writing or else robots could just write best sellers and people could have computers do it for them.

In my opinion, this just isn’t true. There are certain rules and formulas to writing and following them is helpful for starting out.

The real question here is should they be broken and when?

Our answer is: it depends. Let’s get into it.

Destroy all adverbs.

Have you heard this rule before? I know I have, plenty of times. Never write, “I wrote down my idea excitedly!”

Instead Write, “the author got excited about his idea so he wrote it down.”

What rule is this? “Never use adverbs!”

Is this a rule to follow or break?

I think this rule should be considered but can definitely be broken.

We don’t have to NEVER write adverbs in our stories. In fact, I would say they are helpful and not distracting at times. But the rule here should be considered.

If our writing becomes loaded down with adverbs that’s probably too much and it’s going to get distracting for some readers.

Instead, maybe sprinkle in an adverb or two where you really add to the moment and it didn’t overdo it.

Any writer that says, “you can never write adverbs or you will fail as a writer!” never read Harry Potter.

Know the formulas.

This step is pretty important. If you don’t know the rules or the formulas you can’t break them.

It’s important to do research and to learn what makes a great story and what makes great writing.

Then when the time comes you will see a writing formula and know that the story needs to follow it or needs to break it.

If we don’t educate ourselves then we won’t know whether we are just using sloppy writing and trying to push work that is more distracting to our audience than enjoyable.

We want our writing to be enjoyable and for that, we need to know what formulas in the story give what reactions.

For example, if you want to give people a feeling of satisfaction then your story will have a resolution at the end.

If you want them to feel unfulfilled you leave a cliffhanger.

If you want them to feel turmoil or sadness it might end in tragedy.

If you want them to feel horror or uneasy, it will end with no resolution and maybe still a foreboding problem.

These are simple but effective tools for creating stories and plots with the idea in mind of how you want your audience to feel at the end of your story.

Formulas are important for how you want readers to feel, not because they are formulas but because how they help you understand how your overall story will be received and looked for.

When someone is looking at your stories, what feeling do you want them to be chasing after? Horror? Satisfaction? Happy ending? Curiosity? Sadness? Etc.

You can break these formulas, but by doing so you should know at the end WHY you broke the writing rule and how that contributes to your reader ultimately enjoying your story more because you broke it.

You don’t have to know every rule to start writing.

This is important because you might think, “I don’t know what rules I’m breaking so I better not start till I do! Ahhhh!”

This is an unnecessary thought and task.

It would be better to start writing and learn the rules as you go. This way you are increasing your knowledge and practical skill at the same time, thus increasing your wisdom in writing rather than just having the head knowledge and doing nothing with it.

It’s better, in our opinion, to write something bad and fix it later rather than write nothing at all.

It’s kind of fun to be able to look back over years of writing and see how one has grown and changed as a writer. Your writing voice will change and mature over time. If you start writing right away you will be able to see that change first hand.

Waiting to write just doesn’t make sense in the long run.

There are differing opinions about rules and formulas.

Some people don’t believe in certain “formulas” for writing, whereas they do believe in good writing rules.

For me personally, I can definitely see certain “skeletons” or foundations for stories.

In most good stories there’s a beginning, middle, and end. There’s usually an introduction of characters and a major conflict. There’s usually a good climax before the end.

Most good stories have these “formulas,” if you will. And sometimes ignoring these facts leads to stories or plots that fall flat in the majority of the audiences’ eyes.

I’m not saying you MUST follow them, but if you don’t you are heading into territory that is harder to achieve a successful story compared to writers that don’t try to “reinvent the wheel.”

Break them cleverly.

Don’t break the rules just because you don’t like them. This would be silly.

Instead of you are going to break them at all, break them in a clever way that leads to more enjoyment for your readers.

Maybe you write to an audience of writers? In that case, you can break the rules in meta and your audience will get why you broke it and they will see what non-writers can’t see.

Breaking the rules should have a level of intelligence to it, not just rebellion. Rebellion for rebellion’s sake is popular with no one. But well thought out, clever rebellion is appealing to many.

I’m personally not clever enough to break the rules cleverly, but you can bet if I was, I would. 😏

“Good writing can’t be taught”

We definitely disagree with this sentiment. It’s almost like saying “good writing can’t be studied.”

As someone that loves the art of storytelling and thoroughly enjoys studying it, I have to particularly and harshly disagree with EVERYONE that tries to tell you that good writing can’t be taught.

It most certainly can, you just have to find good teachers and dodge the bad ones.

BE AWARE there is bad advice out there. Don’t just take what anyone says to heart without researching it and studying it for yourself (even what I say here. If I say something you don’t agree with, that’s fine. You don’t have to agree with me. I encourage you to study things for yourself! Because in the end, the real truth wins out; not people’s opinions.)

What works out for you, doesn’t always work for others.

What works for me and my style of writing, might not work for you.

You have to figure out your own journey with writing and how it does or it doesn’t work out for you.

So as you study writing and write yourself, you get to choose what formulas to follow or not follow.

And you get to choose what writing rules to break or not break.

This ultimately leads to your own unique style and writing voice compared to other writers.

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Are There Really Writing Rules and Should I Break Them?

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That’s all for now.

Hope this helps!

Happy writing!

Other Resources You Might Enjoy:

How to Start a Blog in 11 Simple Easy Steps in 2020

How to Write a Book: 32 Tips | Your MASSIVE Guide How to Write a Book

Define Self-Esteem for Writing Characters: 10 Ideas

Covert Narcissist and Why You Should Write One

Inspiring Quotes:

Inspiring Quotes | 101+ Inspirational Quotes to Motivate You Today

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Are You Having Trouble Creating Your Fictional Town?

February 25, 2021February 25, 2021 ~ Jeremy ~ Leave a comment

Are You Having Trouble Creating Your Fictional Town?

If you are like many other creative writers fictional towns are a part of the fun and the problem…

You’d been planning for weeks, months, or years even, but the setting is still hard to imagine or put into words.

Hopefully, these tips and tricks will give you some ideas to get you moving forward with your fictional town.

Create a mood board.

A mood board is a collection of images or textures or colors. It’s really anything that inspires you about a certain subject.

So in this case you would make a board that you place images of towns and things you find in towns that inspire you to imagine your new fictional town.

It can be filled with different kinds of architecture that could be found in your town. It would have shops; the people dress. It could have dirt roads birch roads.

Another fast way to do this would be to make a Pinterest board dedicated completely to your fictional town.

Google images of real towns.

One of the best ways to get over a creative slump for creating a fictional town is to look at pictures of real towns.

Even just basing our fictional town on a real town can really help.

Stephen King does this with Derry, Maine. Derry is not a real place but it IS based on real places in Maine. Derry is mostly a conglomerate of what a generic, default quaint little town in Maine might look like.

Looking at images of real towns and basing our fictional town on them is one of the best ways to get into building a fictional town in our minds.

It helps because we lose the doubt we feel when we wonder, “does this town seem real?” The answer would become, YES, because we took real towns and used that inspiration to make a fictional one.

Create a map.

This is almost without question a necessary step in creating a fictional town. You’ll want to be able to map out where events in the story transpire. If this part gets muddled up it could lead to serious plot holes.

Plus once you’ve mapped out the layout of the town this will be a step that gives you a lot of confidence to move forward with your writing.

You’ll be able to see clearly where things are happening and what the setting looks like with your main characters in it.

The layout of a town is important for the plot and it’ll help you as a writer, in the long run, keep things consistent.

Play some world-building games.

There are certain games that revolve around the idea of worldbuilding.

You could play “The Quiet Year” where you take time building a town and drawing it out as you go to get some ideas. And another game called “Kingdoms” is a great way to think about building towns and kingdoms.

Play some video games.

A great way to think about structuring a fictional town is to look at the way that video games do it. You know that games like COD and HALO have maps. By looking at these maps and seeing their layout you can deconstruct how the developers laid out the towns.

Take some time to draw out a couple of small areas that your characters could run around in. Then draw out some bigger mapped-out areas. Then combine some of them and you can really construct a dynamic layout of a fictional landscape.

Google Earth.

Use tools like google earth. Pick out a small town outside a city limit and deep dive into every nook and cranny of it.

If you can draw out a layout similar to the one you’ve explored you know you’re on to something helpful.

The layout of a town or kingdom of even large lands is extremely pivotal to the overall plot of some stories.

In Lord of the Rings, Tolkien’s layout of the fictional world was extremely important as it dictated the trials the characters would face as they journeyed from one end to the other.

Your story might have similar problems to solve. These problems might be solved by just figuring out the layout of the setting your characters are in.

Do they travel far and wide or are they confined to a small area the entire story?

That’s up to you, but the amount that you have travel and why will bring different moods to different parts of the story.

Traveling to a different place can bring with it certain emotions, excitement, sadness, longing, adventure, fear, etc. Depending on where they are going and why is up to you. But when and how much they travel changes the mood of a story.

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Are You Having Trouble Creating Your Fictional Town?

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That’s all for now.

Hope this helps!

Happy writing!

Other Resources You Might Enjoy:

How to Start a Blog in 11 Simple Easy Steps in 2020

How to Write a Book: 32 Tips | Your MASSIVE Guide How to Write a Book

Inspiring Quotes:

Inspiring Quotes | 101+ Inspirational Quotes to Motivate You Today

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