Thanks to some fabulous bloggers that provide the links, the prompts and the communities I’m able to practice my skills.
So dust off your keyboard, blow out the cobwebs from your mind, set your butt in a chair and head over to with one of their prompts and get rid of those summertime writing blues.
Pick your poison, from 5 sentences to well you decide. You might be surprised where one seed of an idea might lead.
I know I’ve listed some of these before, and I’m interested in finding more. So if you know about one I’ve missed, please tell me in the comments section. I’m always looking for fresh ideas.
The magic that flies through your fingers as your imagination takes flight…
So do I! But writing isn’t magic. Writing is hard work. However, there are days when it seems almost magical. When all the letters line up to form the perfect words and great sentences to tell a good story. Too bad that doesn’t happen every day.
Why? Because I would no more tell a writer their book is flawed, than a new mother her baby is ugly.
And I do not plan to give a bad review today. However, I learned something very important this weekend and I wanted to share it with y’all.
I’m sure, you like myself you have an arsenal of “how to” books on writing. Books on the plotting or writing by the seat of your pants. I’ve been reading a lot about structure and plotting but this weekend I figured out something.
I figured out why some books with no structure, less than perfect grammar, without a plot to play in, is often times loved by readers.
After spending the entire weekend reading a long fiction book, with a lot of 5 star review from Amazon readers. I discovered why some books make it when they are about as structurally sound as a beach house after a hurricane.
This book did not live up to the 5 star hype. About 70% through the book I stopped and wondered why I didn’t care for the book.
Story? Nope, I’ve read about abuse and survival before. Subject didn’t bother me.
Missing plot? No good plot thread, could see the reflector stripes leading the way.
Editing? No problem I could find. Well written.
Characters? No, they were 3D easy to picture, but…
Then it hit me, it was the characters.The characters were not likable! They were sweet, handsome, loving, scary, nasty pick an adjective but I could not root for either of them much less the MC. I even found it hard to hate the nasty, bad guy. By the time I finished the book I was relieved to reach the end. I had no satisfied feeling, no ah ha moment, no happiness for the MC, just glad the ordeal was over.
So my take-away from all of this is the most important thing in a book or story is:
A character the reader can love or hate!
If we love a character we will forgive a bunch of faults. Just like that crazy on Aunt who ruins the holidays, but God life would be boring as hell without her.
It’s important to give our readers someone to love, or hate. But never, For the Love of God, never give the reader someone to feel ambivalent about.
Make the villain so nasty the reader needs to take a shower, the lover so hot the reader is frustrated, the damsel in distress that the reader cries for her. Tough job. Here are some links to help.
Often I find my writing is more telling than showing so I just go with that to get the story down and then I go back and show the scene to make it more revealing to my readers.
Telling alerts the reader to something that is unimportant. Love number 3 tip… “3 – Use telling to alert the reader that the character is relatively unimportant. This is where a lot of writers get it wrong by telling too much about the main character, which makes that person seem unimportant.”
Made me wonder if he was selling Log Cabin Syrup, salvation or inviting me to have sex. Either way, with eyes dark enough to get lost in, and that cute dimple on his right cheek, I was in deep shit. My heart fluttered and my ears buzzed as his words faded into white noise. I fell hard into two deep, smoldering wells.
So dust off your keyboard, blow out the cobwebs from your mind, set your butt in a chair and head over to with one of their prompts and get rid of those summertime writing blues.
Jean's Writing 