Tag: writing

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Finding Writing Motivation as long as It’s Called Today

February 17, 2021February 17, 2021 ~ Jeremy ~ 2 Comments

Finding Writing Motivation as long as It’s Called Today

Is the day that you are reading this called today? Then you can find writing motivation today 🙂

I know it sounds funny to say it that way at first but it is important to stay focused on what is possible today and not on what was missed out on yesterday.

What we do today will ultimately affect tomorrow, but we have a little control over tomorrow. We have absolutely no control over yesterday, but today we have control and the potential to write some really amazing stuff!

So let’s try to find writing motivation today.

Write about the little things.

I was recently reading Storyworthy (an excellent book about storytelling. Good for writing stories and telling them out loud as well.) and one of the author’s tips was to keep a log of daily memories.

He has a skill at turning everyday life into award-winning stories. (I highly recommend reading it).

But I found it to be true. By applying the skills he talked about we can find deeper emotional meaning in our everyday experiences and turn them into story-worthy moments.

The big problem is. We aren’t actively looking for them. If we change the way we think about our lives and telling profound stories we will open our eyes to a treasure trove of stories that we may think aren’t worth telling, but this just isn’t true.

Part of the book teaches us how to make great stories out of our everyday lives.

Reward yourself.

I don’t know what your reward system is in your life, but my wife and I call it “Fun money.”

Fun money is essentially cash we can spend on whatever we want without checking with each other. The mentality is “blow your fun money on whatever you want!”

It’s fun. Every once in a while we might bet each other fun money on stuff, just for fun.

For instance, we might debate in a certain memory, “I thought we watched that movie while we were dating.”

“No honey, we definitely saw that when we were engaged.”

If we find out that we can 100% prove a fact we might wager a little fun money before revealing the actual facts 😏.

This is fun for us. But what is fun for you? What’s your “fun money?”

Treats?

Tech?

Experience?

Tools? (My brother reward himself with tools 😂)

You should set yourself a Writing goal and then set yourself a reasonable reward.

“If Write 1,000 words today I get to go out for ice cream.”

“If I Write 2,000 I get dinner and ice cream.”

“If I write 3,000 I get dinner, a movie, and ice cream!”

Those rewards might sound silly to you, but the more you are able to turn writing into fun the more excited you will get about doing it, and the more you do it the habit will form. If you form a habit, you will get better.

Find community.

I cannot even put into words how powerful and important this one tactic is. If you do nothing more from this post other than put yourself around other people that write daily, it’ll be very hard for you to not start writing daily as well.

Psychologically this works all the time. We become like people we put ourselves around. Almost without fail.

Find groups online and in real life. There are writing communities on Reddit, FB, Twitter, etc. (There used to be one on Parler that was good, but Parler didn’t make it r.i.p. Parler.)

It’s not as easy to find people in real life, but I recommend checking out your local library. Reading groups can sometimes have writers as well. And today I’ve heard that more and more groups are meeting via zoom and other video groups. If you can’t get out you can now find a video group to join.

What is your “why?“

Ask yourself, why do I write?

Some of us write for stress reduction. Writing can be a way to help us struggle through our emotions.

We write for fun. It’s fun to create something. It’s enjoyable to create a story and characters and dive into their lives and psyche and see what they do and where they go.

Some of us get paid to write or want to get paid to write. Today there are a myriad of paid writing jobs. Probably more than any other time in history.

If you want to be a paid writer, today is the day. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. It is easier to get paid as a writer today than at any other time in history. There are many writing job opportunities and the opportunity to learn to write well is massive compared to the past. (My recommendation is learning how to make money as a blogger. One of the best ways to make money blogging is through affiliate marketing.)

So why do you write? Why do you want to write?

Knowing your “why” can really help motivate you today to keep writing out to start.

Some days your why will motivate you and some days it just won’t. That’s okay. We as humans change and grow all the time. This means we have to look at different angles of life and what we personally like about writing differently as we age and our lives change.

I recently read about an author that was a full-time bar owner before he started writing. When he realized it was his calling he sold his bar and now his daily life revolves around writing 6 hours a day. WAY different than being a bar owner.

Times change and motivations change and that can be a good thing. So if something stops working to motivate you to write, just try something else out something new altogether.

The most important thing is, don’t stop trying to find motivation. Just keep moving forward, and most importantly “write at least one word every day.”

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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 Posts:

Inspiring Quotes | 101+ Inspirational Quotes to Motivate You Today

190+ Inspirational Quotes for Women

303+ Funny Inspirational Quotes

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Finding Writing Motivation as long as It’s Called Today

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What to Look for in a Writing Group

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

What to Look for in a Writing Group. Try these tips!

If you’ve been in a working writer’s group for a bit now, you know what to expect and what you want to see happen during that time session.

But if you haven’t been to a writing group yet and are looking for one you may want to consider these things.

Desire to publish.

Not everyone wants this, but I highly recommend it. To be a part of a writing group should be enjoyable but it also should be a little bit of a pressure cooker.

You want to be around people that are going to push you to be better and do better. A good pressure to have on yourself is to aspire to publish and one easy way to do that is to put yourself immediately around others where their desire, drive, and motivation is to publish (even better if they have already published before and are continuing to.

Don’t join a group that doesn’t have goals. Having goals is important for writers since it is tempting to put things off.

Actually, has stuff written down.

Too many writing groups aren’t actually a “writing” group.

Some like think tanks where everyone goes for weeks talking about world-building and plot ideas, but after weeks of talking nobody has written anything down.

Are we really a writing group? 😂

Another thing that can happen is they can turn into feel-good parties. You get to share your ideas for your story and everyone claps and praises your ideas. Again nobody shows any REAL writing work. They just talk about writing.

Openly and candidly share.

Look for a group that is open.

Open to share their writing and open to your writing. Open to giving honest but helpful critiques.

Helpful critique is very specific and meant for real edit changes. Not helpful critics are general and usually don’t contribute anything of use or value to the editing of your work.

“This is awful and no one would ever read it.” Is not helpful in any way, whereas, “this opening confused me. It’s long and I’m not sure if we are actually going anywhere.” Is helpful and gives you an inside look into what a reader might feel reading the first few pages of your book.

Open to differing opinions.

Personally, I find groups that push back against ideas for social reasons to be off-putting. (You’ll want to find a group that helps you thrive in the genre you’re in.)

If you want to write a romantic comedy, but the group thinks that’s cliché, then you’re probably going to want to find a different group. They won’t be very helpful to you.

If you’re in a group that’s hyper-political and you want to write an epic fantasy, they might push you in a weird direction.

Willing to do serious discussions.

You’re not there for the cookies (what I mean is, you are not ONLY there for the cookies 🙂 ). A group that will be most helpful to everyone involved is a group that is all willing to put in effort together and be thoughtful about EACH member’s writing.

You can do a certain amount of time on each one or you can say that the entire writing session is dedicated to one and each person gets into a rotation of sessions. It doesn’t really matter how you break it up as long as it’s fair.

There to help each other.

A big red flag would be several members that dominate the conversation and only ever want to talk about their work.

Join a group that wants to take time to help everyone’s work.

A willingness to receive helpful feedback and to also give helpful feedback is something you should look for in a healthy writing group.

It is 100% okay to leave a group.

If you find that you’re in a group but it doesn’t help each member out or the environment feels toxic, do not feel bad walking away from that group. It’s time being spent and you might benefit from spending it elsewhere.

So don’t feel too bad if you realize suddenly that your group is not helping each other and you see that you should step away.

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That’s all for now.

Hope that 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

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What to Look for in a Writing Group

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Why Do People Discourage Writers from Writing?

February 11, 2021February 11, 2021 ~ Jeremy ~ Leave a comment

Why Do People Discourage Writers from Writing?

I don’t know if you’ve been in this situation before, but something tells me if you’re reading this you have.

You like to write. Maybe you like to write stories and novels. Maybe one day you dream of being published or getting paid to write.

If you fall into this category of liking to write you may have told someone you care about that you enjoy writing and might want to publish one day. They may have looked at you funny and said something like,

“So you’re gonna be the next J. K. Rowling huh? You becoming a successful writer is very unlikely.”

They immediately discouraged it. They told you in no uncertain terms that it is probably a bad idea to think that you could publish or get paid to write one day.

It’s hard to be vulnerable and share things we are passionate about with others, especially when they don’t resonate with us the way we desire them to.

Why do those we care to share our love of writing with say things like this and what should we do about it?

I’m sure they mean well.

If it’s your parents or someone in your family, I’m sure they mean well. They want more than anything to see us succeed and they want to shelter us from making what they think are “bad” decisions.

It’s understandable. But should we listen to it?

If you love to write, then just keep writing.

If you want to be a writer then write. Nobody is telling you to quit your day job and think that you’ll be a successful writer overnight.

Most successful writers worked their “derrieres” off writing for months and more likely years before anything caught traction.

Even in the freelance writing world, it can take months to land that first client and that might not even work out.

I remember my first two copywriting clients. One paid me $50 to write her About Me page (she didn’t seem super pleased) and the second hired me at $20/hour and politely told me “this isn’t gonna work out” after 3 hours.

Talk about overnight success.

But I didn’t quit and before long I learned a little more. Got a little better and started working with clients at $100 plus an hour.

So all that to say. Don’t quit your day job till you can afford to, but don’t quit writing either.

Most success stories have a common component: the person didn’t quit even when they failed. They just kept going and learning till they figured out what works and what doesn’t work.

Maybe it’ll just be a hobby for a bit and then become a side hustle, but to just obligatorily think you can’t make money writing or be a successful writer is quite the contrary to reality in our day and age.

Don’t tell just anyone.

As a creative and someone that loves creating and writing things whether it is art, or music, or writing I’ve learned two secrets.

One is that when I talk about what I’m thinking of creating I get enjoyment from what people say about the idea rather than the actual thing and then with that satisfaction I might not even desire to make it anymore. It’s a strange phenomenon but one that I’ve learned to watch out for.

So these days I try to create in secret and then reveal when it is finished.

Two, when you tell people what you’re creating and why they are likely to discourage you and not help or support you. Sometimes it’s better to keep what you’re doing to yourself until it’s finished, well polished, and “impressive,” before letting anyone put an eye on it.

Just personally I wouldn’t recommend showing a painting you’re doing to anyone in the middle of it because it might look like some silly lines or colors.

They may say, “oh that’s nice… what is it supposed to be?” 👀

Rather than having this awkward interaction, just create the thing and when it looks amazing, then you can let people look at it.

If you create in secret, you are more likely to finish and less likely to get bad feedback along the way.

So look forward to showing someone your ACCOMPLISHMENTS someday and try not to daydream too much (I know it’s fun, but it’s not very rewarding).

Find a community that will push you forward.

Even though family members and close friends might think they are doing you a favor by discouraging you from writing, you don’t have to listen to their ideas. They are just opinions.

They may be right, they may be wrong, but at the end of the day no human, not even you can predict your future.

If you really love to write it might be a good idea to find other people that love writing and talk with them about what you’re working on and see what they are writing too.

(At some point during your editing process, you’ll want to find writers that have a good critical voice, but that’s for later after you finish your story.)

And if you want to go into freelance writing, (which I highly recommend, alongside blogging for income) then you should find others and find out all you can from them.

Finding people that are already doing the thing you want to be good at is extremely beneficial compared to doing it on your own.

You can find others on Reddit, Twitter, FB, blogs, etc. Even if you can’t find people in person right now that enjoy writing as you do, you can find them online and start to join the conversation. Don’t make it all about your writing, be polite and be inquisitive about theirs as well.

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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

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Why Do People Discourage Writers from Writing?

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These Bad Habits Will Destroy Your Writing Skills

February 10, 2021February 10, 2021 ~ Jeremy ~ Leave a comment

These Bad Habits Will Destroy Your Writing Skills

We all do it. “I’m a writer, I’ve been writing for years. I’m working on a trilogy. My magic system is based on…”

We talk a lot about writing. We buy books on writing and read about writing. We buy writer starting kits and courses.

We have these conversations with friends and family and it makes us feel good for a moment to talk about our story and to get quick reactions.

It is A LOT easier to get a good feeling from these little moments than actually sitting down and writing 2,000-6,000 words a day.

If we were honest with ourselves it’s a lot easier to talk about writing and buy things about writing than to sit down and type something out.

The dirty work is in the details.

It’s easier to just pick up bad habits instead that mostly waste our time and don’t make us much better as writers.

Netflix.

If you aren’t nodding your head right now you live on Pluto.

How many nights have you thought, “I should write something,” only to remember a show you have been binging or one that interested you lately and then give in to going and watching that and writing nothing?

Try unsubscribing from things like Netflix for a month and writing instead. Trust me. They’ll be waiting for you with open arms to take your monthly subscription again. (Not finance advice, but check to make sure you don’t have a “grandfathered” account before unsubbing from anything.)

Social media.

Sounds familiar?

“I should go work on my story…or I could surf insta for 2 hours and go to sleep.”

FB, Instagram, Reddit, and Twitter, you name it. They all have their positives and negatives.

One really bad habit is reading social media every free second you get chasing that social media buzz that ultimately leaves you feeling empty and unaccomplished.

Tonight, don’t go to FB. Go write something instead. You’ll feel much more accomplished. Plus, you’ll have something to show for it the next day.

Talking about it instead of writing it.

This is a trap I personally used to fall into (and sometimes still do) all the time.

We get an emotional buzz of good feelings when we talk about our ideas. And nice people don’t mean to but they actually fuel this bad habit.

When we talk about our ideas and our friend says, “that’s an awesome idea! I’d read that. You’re so creative.” Our brains get buzzing with good feelings and instead of taking that incentive and writing down the idea, we walk away feeling accomplished after doing essentially nothing other than talking.

The best way to get past this bad habit is to stop talking about our ideas. Instead, write them and do them. Then when someone comments on it you can actually feel good about that comment because there is substance behind it.

Buying books on writing.

Let me put a disclaimer here. In order to get better at writing, reading books that help us will inevitably help some, but not if we don’t write. If we just read and research but don’t put it into practice then it is almost pointless.

I could read all the books in the world, but if I don’t actually apply what I read… what was the point? The tough love question is- Am I actually any better at writing?

So the bad habit here is buying more and more books and never actually writing.

Here is a great way to break this habit is two-fold.

When you read a good tip in your next book, write a short story that uses that principle you learned. Put it into action right away and it will be more embedded in your memory to bring back up later, compared to reading a bunch of tips and using none of them.

If you read a tip use it, read a tip is it, rinse repeat, you will remember and be able to use more of the tips instead of reading 10 Tips and try to remember them all the next time you write.

You can split this up however you want and whatever works best for your memory. You could read two tips then write.

The point is to read with the intent to write.

Video games.

You might be thinking, “Hey! Story games give me ideas and are a part of my process!”

While that could be true, it isn’t for most people that want to write but get distracted on a daily basis by bad habits.

I recommend rewarding yourself with a game, not playing it instead.

You may use it to get creative ideas but at the end of the day, if you didn’t write something inspired by it, it didn’t help you become a better writer.

Instead, set a time to write and say no to gaming until after that time is up.

If you write for your time limit then you reward yourself with some game time. If you don’t write, you don’t play.

Final Thoughts

Anything can become a bad habit if it keeps you from doing things that are important to you.

These bad habits mostly stem from choosing to do things that are fun and easy compared to doing something that seems rewarding, but is ultimately hard and takes discipline.

At the end of the day, the only way you are going to overcome these bad habits is to start making good habits to replace them.

Take time to write each day. Choose to say no to the thing that keeps you from writing until you’ve written. Shut off the Internet. Lock your phone in a time box. Go to a room where you don’t have access to the things that distract you and leave them out somewhere else until you’ve accomplished your timed writing.

Find ways to turn your distractions into rewards instead of distractions.

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These Bad Habits Will Destroy Your Writing Skills

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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

This post:

These Bad Habits Will Destroy Your Writing Skills

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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.

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Struggle with Self-Doubt as a Writer? When Will It Go Away?

February 8, 2021February 8, 2021 ~ Jeremy ~ Leave a comment

Struggle with Self-Doubt as a Writer? When Will It Go Away?

Self-doubt is a real concern for many writers. Whether you have been published or never shown your writing to anyone, as writers we experience constant battles with self-doubt.

Even as a copywriter that has made $150 an hour, I still experience self-doubt with copywriting.

Thoughts creep up, “What if that was a fluke? What if I mess up the next one? How do I know this is gonna work again?”

The truth is, it might not work. Our writing might flop. But it won’t do anything if we don’t try. It will 100% flop and do nothing if we don’t even attempt to write it and put it out there.

You’re absolutely not alone in self-doubt.

Just about everyone struggles with self-doubt.

Even Shakespeare struggled with self-doubt. “Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.”

Here are some more people who you might recognize that struggle with self-doubt,

“The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.” Sylvia Plath

“If you hear a voice within you say you cannot paint, then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced.” Vincent Van Gogh

“Writing is finally about one thing: going into a room alone and doing it. Putting words on paper that have never been there in quite that way before. And although you are physically by yourself, the haunting Demon never leaves you, that Demon being the knowledge of your own terrible limitations, your hopeless inadequacy, the impossibility of ever getting it right. No matter how diamond-bright your ideas are dancing in your brain, on paper they are earthbound.”

William Goldman

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Even the successful know the feeling of self-doubt well. And worry is an everyday battle. Be ready for it.

Even the most successful struggle with self-doubt.

Jude Apatow tells a story about his battles with self-doubt.

One day he was walking around in a mall and ran into Steven Spielberg. Spielberg praised his work.

He said for 10 minutes he was on top of the world, but almost immediately after he got lost in self-loathing again.

Can you imagine living on a planet where one, you could randomly run into steven Spielberg randomly at a mall? And two, wherein what universe this creative giant stops and praise your work?!

You would think after someone like that says your work is good and enjoyable you’d actually believe that your work is good and enjoyable. But even the successful elite struggle with thoughts of self-doubt.

Self-doubt isn’t always a bad thing.

Many successful people have strived to be better only because they doubted themselves being any good in the first place.

They saw their true inadequacies and strived to learn, grow, and be better.

Strive for a balance.

The truth is there is probably a healthy balance you’ll want to strive for.

Too overconfident and you might overlook things or just quit in satisfaction. Too much worry and you just might never start a project that could be very successful.

Don’t do it JUST for success.

I know, I know. It’s very cliche to say things like, “follow your passion.”

But there is a little bit of truth there. It is better if you can find some success in doing what you already like to do.

Do it because you enjoy it, and also strive to be good at it.

Ever heard the expression, “be so good they can’t ignore you.” That expression applies here.

Don’t do it just to be successful but if you become so good that they can’t ignore you, it will be hard not to be successful.

Success in writing or anything doesn’t come from trying to be a big success. It mostly comes from being VERY good at a skill and then multiplying on that skill, art, or trade.

If it does fail at first, that’s no big deal because you are not going to give up just because of a little let down. Now you know where to improve and can get better.

If you do something like writing because you enjoy it and because you want to be really good at it, then you are also more likely to be successful at it one day compared to those that just do it for success.

Flip self-doubt on its head.

Expand on what we talked about a moment ago.

You may feel like you’re not good enough. You may feel like you don’t know enough or don’t have the skills. You may feel like you don’t have “what it takes to be a successful writer.

Use these feelings to become the best. Use the feelings of self-doubt to become better than everyone else you see. If you feel inadequate, just use that feel to learn more, practice more, and get better.

If we feel as though we aren’t good enough, we CAN do something about it. We can learn more. We can practice and edit more. We can get better, in theory.

Self-doubt doesn’t have to be negative.

Think more about what we saw above, if we think ourselves into a paralyzing corner, that is not good, but self-doubt itself doesn’t have to be bad.

It could be good.

Those won’t work for everyone, but some of us might be very motivated by self-doubt and the need to prove ourselves. We might benefit from the desire to be better and get better.

If we didn’t feel self-doubt we might not strive harder and reach the next level of our potential.

Having the mindset that we have room to grow and that we haven’t reached our peak is a great place to be for getting better than those competing around us.

Learn to ignore it.

For some of us, we shouldn’t expect the feeling of self-doubt to go away. Instead, we should learn to ignore it.

We should face every writing season knowing that self-doubt will attack us and that it isn’t going anywhere.

We should just write anyway. Who are we to say that our story is no good? How are we to know if people won’t love it or hate it.

There is truly no way to know until they are reading it and they say so.

Just write crap.

This is one of my favorite lines. “Just write crap.”

It’s really freeing.

Because of self-doubt we get stuck in our own heads and worry so much about whether it’ll work or what people will think, but if we just wrote crap and we ourselves were okay with it not being perfect, that is such a better feeling in writing than worrying about the perfection of every little sentence.

Then after we’ve got the “crap” out we can work with it and edit it and shape and mold it into an amazing piece of work, especially if we have the mindset to always be learning our craft, practicing our craft, and becoming the best at our craft.

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Struggle with Self-Doubt as a Writer? When Will It Go Away?

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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

What is Theme?

The Hero’s Journey

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Struggle with Self-Doubt as a Writer? When Will It Go Away?

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Questions to Ask About Your Magic System

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

Questions to Ask About Your Magic System

Building a new Magic System for a story or saga doesn’t have to be hard, but it does need rules and you can’t break them or else it cheapens it.

Use these questions to help you think through Your Magic System.

How is it learned?

How does one in your fictional world gain access to magic?

How is it executed?

Do they have to say specific words? Do they clap their hands? What do they have to do to actually use it?

How is it accessed?

Do they have to go to a special place to get it? Are some born with it?

Is it restricted by space and time?

What are the restrictions on your system? Do they have a certain device necessary in order to wield it?

What does their magic do?

How is it important and helpful in their current world situation? Does it allow them to heal? Destroy? And create?

How does it relate to character growth and development?

Do some characters get corrupted by their power? Do some use it for good and to help others while some use it to take and steal away from others?

Does their magic have a cost?

Does it have a cause and effect? Do they equally lose what they gain?

Are there limits?

What can’t they do within your magic System?

Does it have a time limit?

Once the sun sets does it disappear and you have to wait another day to use it again?

Is it restricted to only certain persons?

Are certain people born with the ability to access it, while others aren’t?

How does the world feel about it?

Is it normalized? Is it scandalous?

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That’s all for now. If this ends up being popular in the comments we may add more ideas later.

Hope this helps!

Happy writing!

Resources:

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

What is Theme?

This post:

Questions to Ask About Your Magic System

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Cliché Story Openings to Avoid

February 4, 2021February 4, 2021 ~ Jeremy ~ Leave a comment

Cliché Story Openings to Avoid

Cliche openings are a dime a dozen, but some are just too much to ignore. Watch out to not use these cliche openings that stick out like a sore thumb.

The walking somewhere opening.

Sometimes it seems like a good idea to us to put our character into a slow position at the start.

We want to be able to have room to start to reveal our world to the reader. We do this by having our character walk to school or to the grocery store.

Don’t make this mistake.

Think about your first sentence as, “How do I get my reader hooked for the next chapter off this one sentence?”

A great example is the first sentence of the Dark Tower Series.

“The man in black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed.”

It’s pure art. It’s brilliant. It’s simple.

And most importantly it works.

The very first sentence introduces the main characters and a major conflict that needs to be resolved. It’s tempting you to read a little more.

Traveling to a meeting.

All too often writers decide that the perfect way to introduce their main character is to put us on a train, bus, or car with them for two hours to get to know them before we get into any conflict whatsoever.

Don’t do this. You’ll lose your reader and the good stuff that may be waiting beyond this scene might never be discovered.

A better way to do it would be to start it in the middle of “the meeting” or even sometime after when the conflict is already apparent and in progress.

You can always flashback if you really want to. But in the opening, we really want to be finding that grand hook to keep them curious for more.

One good example we can think of where this is done well would be Unbreakable, but be aware the point of traveling on the train isn’t to give us a long introduction to the main character; on the contrary, it is meant to bring us into the main conflict quickly.

Don’t assume that action is the only possible hook.

Men chasing each other across the desert with guns might not be the genre you’re writing in. That’s fine. Good hooks aren’t always about action. But they always involve emotional responses and curiosity and conflict of any kind goes a long way.

Emotional motivating factors could be love, loss, heartache, time, fear, shock, horror, curiosity. There are many ways to think about hooking your reader.

Take this opener for example, “We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold.”

No action in this opening. They are traveling and that’s fine. The motivator here is probably curiosity.

The reader might think, “The drugs began to take hold? What does that mean? What is about to happen?”

And so they read further. That’s all you want! You just want to evoke emotion in them to want to read further.

And of course, reward them as they do. Give them curiosity. Then reward them for giving in to that curiosity, rinse and repeat. A good opening brings curiosity. It doesn’t explain a character or a world unless a conflict is naturally introduced by that introduction to the character and world.

If you’re writing drama or romance then your conflict isn’t about car chases and explosions per se.

It might just be that “He couldn’t wipe away his tears of anger fast enough as he ran through the hall and down into the stairwell. Everyone stopped and watched him. It was the most embarrassment he had felt in his entire life.”

Remember that a good opening hook doesn’t have to rely on action. It relies on evoking emotions in our reader. And when we get the emotions right, they will read on.

Over-detailed, needless setting description, and discovery.

This is an easy rule to live by for the rest of your writing days.

You are only allowed to open your story with vast amounts of setting description on drafts that you never intend for anyone else to read other than after you have written an impelling version of the story, you sell a million copies and then you have hundreds of super fans that would love to gobble up the tedious backgrounds of your creative process for the world you created that they now dearly love in their hearts.

Before that though, never and I mean NEVER open any of your stories with a full page of describing settings before you come to any conflicts whatsoever. I beg you! 😬

Side note: (I will qualify here, that every once in a blue moon an author appears in the universe that can actually pull this off.

They somehow magically know how to put 5 pages worth of setting descriptions and character descriptions as the opening of their story and not bore everyone to death.

In fact, they know how to draw you in and make you enjoy it and want more. I’ll be the first to say, I’m not that mystical author. And most of us aren’t.

You are more than welcome to practice that type of writing and try to get many people to read it. But it’s truly a magnificent skill that takes either born talent or years of practice.)

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That’s all for now.

Hope that helps!

Happy writing!

Resources:

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

What is Theme?

The Hero’s Journey

This post:

Cliché Story Openings to Avoid

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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.

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What If Your Magic System Were Based On Boring Stuff?

February 3, 2021February 3, 2021 ~ Jeremy ~ Leave a comment

What If Your Magic System Were Based On Boring Stuff?

We’ve all seen magic is science. And of course, magic is a feeling or superpower, but what else could your magic system be based on?

Magic is math.

Understanding 2+2 can get you a sparkler, but understanding calculus you can grow a tree, or create a fire breathing dragon.

Magic is painting.

If you can paint it, it can come to life. The more realistic it looks the more powerful it is and the longer it remains in the real world. The less life like it is the more it comes out like a messy sloppy dud, and it doesn’t remain in reality very long.

Magic is history.

Are you a walking historian factoid? The more history you know the better.

Can you tell us what year Napolean was born? Conjure up his hat. Can you tell us what he did for his fifteenth birthday? Conjure Napolean himself. Can you tell us the complete history of Napolean and his conquest? Conjure up Napolean’s army to fight at your command.

Facts become valuable. Especially rare facts. The more you know things that no one else knows the more powerful you are as a historian magic wielder.

Magic is sculpting.

If you can shape it, you can bring it to life. Very similar rules and ideas to painting.

Magic is sports.

Move over jocks. Playing magic ball is way beyond basketball. Fireballs are just the start. Your spin move shoots a tornado at the opposing team clearing the way for your glacier dunk. (We’re going to need a mop.)

Magic is animal training.

Animals used to be able to just play dead and rollover. Now you can train your dog to dig up the dead and your cat to breathe fire. The better you train your hamster, the more magical and powerful it becomes.

Magic is traveling.

The more places you’ve been to the more magical you are. Been to places that haven’t felt the footsteps of mankind before? Move over Voldemort.

Magic is archeology.

You dig stuff up and depending on how old and rare it is it carries with it magical properties. As long as you can carry a piece of it with you on your person it can make you more or less powerful.

Which magic system would you be?

Did you think of another good magic system idea?

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That’s all for now.

Hope this helps!

Happy writing!

Resources:

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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What If Your Magic System Were Based On Boring Stuff?

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Tips From Aaron Sorkin on Screenwriting Part 1

February 2, 2021February 2, 2021 ~ Jeremy ~ Leave a comment

Tips From Aaron Sorkin on Screenwriting Part 1

Aaron Sorkin is an Oscar winner, tv show, and movie hitmaker.

He worked on things like A Few Good Men, Social Network, and Steve Jobs.

I recently took his MasterClass and here are a few good tips for screenwriting. As well as some insider information on Aaron.

Better at writing than speaking out loud.

Some people live this way. They would rather the entire world only ever communicate in text.

When they try to speak out loud things become convoluted and confusing. But Writing has a clear flow and pattern.

Aaron admits to being this way.

It’s like writing is our first language and speaking is a second (or third 😂).

Aaron believes writing can be taught, but some of it is unteachable talent.

I half agree with this thought. I think all skills involved with writing can be talked about and taught.

Will everyone who’s taught how to write well, enjoy it? No.

Will this make some succeed and some fail? Yes.

Don’t worry if you’re afraid you can’t be taught how to write screenplays. If you’re that concerned about it then your someone who will probably get very good at it over time and experience and practice.

Start with the character and an intention with an obstacle.

There’s a guy and he wants the girl, but she’s dating someone else.

There’s a Princess that wants to be queen but her sister is first in line for the throne.

There is a mother and she needs a thanksgiving turkey, but when she reaches out to grab it, it’s snatched up by someone else.

Intentions and obstacles are so important to meaningful and interesting conflict.

It sets the script in motion. Without it, it’s like, “why are we here and where are we going?”

The obstacle has to be believably formidable.

Aaron joked about times in college when he wrote stories that were full of witty dialogue that didn’t go anywhere.

This can happen if we have characters but no intentions or obstacles. We’d be directionless.

And the obstacle has to be believable or the reader will quickly lose interest.

Why would they care to find out what happens next if the stakes aren’t high?

Press on the intention and obstacle.

What is your story? What does the character want and what is in their way?

If you have 5 friends that are going on a road trip across the country that’s not good enough.

They need to be on the other side of the country. They need to get to the other side within 6 days or else one of them loses his life’s goal, career, dream job, etc.

Along the way, they run into many side trials and roadblocks that make their journey there full of tension and conflict which is more interesting than just a road trip for fun.

Watch out for easy outs.

Have you ever been watching a movie and thought something like, “Why didn’t they just go through the back door? Why didn’t they just call the police earlier? Why didn’t they just-?”

You name it. If you have something the character could have done to get through the obstacle easier or quicker and it’s obvious to the viewer, that’s a big problem.

They are going leave feeling like the obstacles were stupid and not believable.

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Hope this helps!

Happy writing!

Resources:

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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Tips From Aaron Sorkin on Screenwriting Part 1

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