Tag: writing techniques

April Creativity posts and the 30 Day Star Challenge Begin!

April Creativity posts and the 30 Day Star Challenge Begin!

First,

Happy Easter!

If you have been following my blog for awhile, you might remember that last April, I decided to do a month of writing prompts that I called #AprilCreativity. I really enjoyed making the prompts, and then using some of them. Others mentioned that they enjoyed them as well, so I decided that I would make it an annual event!

The Details

All #AprilCreativity is, at its most basic, is a bunch of writing prompts that I create or find and then post on the blog and my instagram page. On occaision, I’ll also post snippets of writing that came from my use of the prompts, and I’d love to see yours as well!

Feel free to reblog the prompts on instagram, just please tag me in them!

If you reblog or retweet or otherwise share, use the #AprilCreativity hashtag.

Write! I want these to be something that you find useful. If they aren’t useful, then I’m not meeting my goal. If you really like a prompt (or type of prompt), let me know. Same if you hate it. I’d love to have the feedback so I can do better next time.

There will be one each day in April, and they will vary between photo prompts, youtube/musical prompts, and word prompts.

Let’s get started!

Seeing as today is Easter, I’ve pulled this prompt for you today.

April Creativity Prompt 1 2018

 

A few tips

If you’re struggling with where to start, I have a few suggestions.

  • Look the photo over for a few moments. Make a list of the things that stand out to you. Then use as many or as few of those things as the focal point of your first few sentences.
  • Start by describing the scene in the photo. See if that takes you somewhere else.
  • Look at the photo for a few moments. Then set a timer and write anything that comes to mind for five minutes. If the timer goes off and you’re on a roll, ignore it and continue. If you are struggling, go ahead and stop. You never know what gem might be hiding in what you think is terrible writing.
  • Save everything you write!

Also, don’t forget about the #30daystarchallenge! If you’re interested in finding out more about that, which is a daily word count goal challenge I’m running at the same time, just visit the other blog posts.

I hope you’ll join me! Connect with me over Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram! I always love talking to readers and writers!

 

Take the #30DayStarChallenge with me!

Take the #30DayStarChallenge with me!

If you haven’t seen my post earlier, then please, take a minute to go visit it HERE. On that post, I explain the motivation for doing it, and a little about the details. There’s also a downloadable calendar for you, if you want to use it.

The whole point of this challenge is to help get you (and me) motivated and back to a writing habit. Believe me, when you sit down and make yourself write, even if its total garbage and for only ten minutes a day, it becomes easier and easier to get those words out of your head and onto paper. Writing isn’t about being perfect the first time around. Its a process – you’re going to have the terrible first draft, and then you’re going to edit and polish it into something really awesome. It won’t happen in one draft – I don’t know any writers whose novels didn’t need serious edits. But if you never start, you can never finish, and that’s the goal – to finish!

I’m not saying that you’ll start and finish a novel in these 30 days – this isn’t NaNoWriMo! I just want to help you get writing into your daily routine. And, honestly, I need to get it back into mine!

The Details:

All you have to do to participate in the challenge is pick a word count goal – 200 words a day or 1000, it doesn’t matter. Just make sure you pick something that is realistic for you.

Print out the downloadable calendar I’ve made, or use your planner or other calendar, and get a set of small star stickers. I buy mine in Michael’s.

On April 1st, pick a time and sit down to write and meet your goal!

Every Friday, take a picture of your calendar and share it with the hashtag #30daystarchallenge on instagram, twitter, and/or Facebook. Encourage each other!

If you aren’t sure what to write, or you don’t have a novel started but you want to get those writing habits going, then think of participating in the #AprilCreativity posts that I’ll be posting each day of April. Every day will be a different prompt. Take a look, and use it as a warm up, or a way to get some inspiration!

 

Don’t Be Discouraged!

You are probably going to miss a day. Don’t let it make you stop! There are always times when maybe you aren’t near your computer, or life just got in the way. It happens. Just brush yourself off and try again tomorrow. Seriously. This isn’t about adding more stress to your life.

Don’t compare yourself to others either – take a look at their photos, encourage each other, but NEVER let it get you down. Just because someone writes 2000 words a day doesn’t make them a better writer or more of a writer. They just happened to write more words that day. It doesn’t matter how fast or slow you are – it matters that you made the attempt!

 

Connect!

Writing can be a lonely occupation. Take a few moments and connect with other writers participating using the #30daystarchallenge hashtag. Ask each other questions. Make friends! The writing community (especially the children/YA lit community, though I’m biased) is a really awesome place, with some truly amazing people. Use the opportunity to make connections with other writers!

 

30DayStarChallenge

Will you join me? I hope so! Let me know in the comments or connect on Twitter, FB, or Instagram!

Want to Be a Better Writer? Watch more movies, read more books!

Want to Be a Better Writer? Watch more movies, read more books!

What? I’m telling you to go do something other than write? Well… yes.

The obvious response to how to be a writer is write. And I want to take a moment to remind you that being it doesn’t matter if you are published or not – if you write, and you love to write, you are a writer.

But, getting back to being a better writer – while writing is the biggest and most important thing you can do, I also believe that there is another important thing that people forget. I know I do sometimes.

You have to READ.

Now, most writers I know are also readers at heart. But sometimes you get to where you haven’t read anything in weeks or months. Work, family, writing, and all those other commitments take your time and you just keep that running to read list going, but you never cross anything off. (And I’m guilty. I carry a to read notebook in my purse. I’m WAY past the “list” stage.) The thing you have to remember is that reading is just as important as writing. Its both a way to help your brain take a break, breathe in some new motivation and creativity, and do some “business research.”

You have to expose yourself to other ideas and help stretch your imagination. If you’re very intent on what you’re writing currently, then by all means, finish and then do it. But make sure you do. I once had a critique partner who called it “refilling the word count.” She was right. After I finished LEARNING SPACE, I had a bit of a writing slump. I started a Nano project, but I couldn’t finish. My heart wasn’t in it. I hadn’t taken time to really think it through, and let myself recover from the other book. In doing this, you also need to make sure you are staying aware of what is out there in your genre. You need to be aware of other authors and books. Honestly, making connections with other writers is one of the best perks of the job! Tell them you love their book – you know how great it makes you feel, so make sure you do the same!

At the same time, try a few books outside of your genre. If you write YA novels, try something adult. If you write all horror, try a romance or a realistic fiction. I’m not a huge fan of realistic fiction (I get enough YA drama from the high school students at work), but I’ve tried a few and been pleasantly surprised! (If you haven’t read TEN MILES PAST NORMAL or THIS SONG WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE, I highly recommend them!)

Never underestimate the power of the written word. Reading something I didn’t write and having my imagination stimulated by someone else’s words helped to jump start my own.

In addition to reading, I always love a good movie. I always see my books in a visual way – they play a bit like movies in my head. So watching movies really helps me. They transport you, they’re visual, and they’re fun. It doesn’t matter so much if its a “good” or “bad” movie. Some of the ones I watch over and over aren’t exactly high class entertainment. And some of them are. Some are in black and white. (Arsenic and Old Lace? Angel and the Badman?) And if there is a B or C SyFy movie – before we got rid of our cable, I’d have been watching it. They’re so bad sometimes, they’re funny. Except Sharknado. That one makes me feel like I’m leaking brain cells. For serious.

My favorite right now is probably Beauty and the Beast or the live action Cinderella. I love the costuming in those and the visuals. They’re just so pretty to look at!

What movies do you love? What book recommendations do you have for me?