My Heart Is A Huge Library, And Every Book In It Is About You.

Let’s talk about starting to write

A lot of first time writers come up with a great idea for a story but have no clue on how to start writing it. In this post i will try to give a couple of pointers on how to do just that. But first let me point out that there is no one way on how to begin your novel. I do not claim that how i do it is the best way, everything i tell you here is just how i start my writing but hopefully it will help some of your guys out there. Understand that there is no correct order for these tips, they all are related in some way and creating one thing will lead to another in a different category. That being said, let’s begin!

Make a timeline

I always start by creating a timeline on which i can mark different events in my novel. I will assume here that, like me you have thought of at least one scene when you got your amazing idea. This is a great start which you immediately can put on your timeline. This timeline is going to become your best friend so i suggest you place it somewhere where you can access it easily. 

Now i name each point on my timeline with a short title, things like: this character dies, this battle occurs, this character get’s bad news,… Things like that. Then i place this title in a separate document and clarify what i mean with this title. I describe how i imagined the scene, which characters are present, what it is about, … everything i can think off off of the top of my head. Then before i start writing that scene i will reread this piece and maybe add a couple of things. 

Normally i tend to categorize and color code each title in my timeline and the separate document. I categorize them by something that suits the story: per point of view, per area they are in,… If done correctly (and by that i mean with a summary with a description what each category or color means) it can help you keep the timeline neatly structured so you only have to glans at it to know what is going on.

Start to build the basics of your world

In one of my previous posts i talked about world building, Here is a link to this post and i suggest you check it out to learn how to easily build up a world. 

World building consists of two parts: culture and environment. You need to create or now in which kind of culture your story is going to take place and choose in which environment this culture is going to exist in. Both influence the others greatly, for example you can not have a people who live in wooden houses live on a barren wasteland. They will need to live in stone housing and thus the environment influences the culture you create.

So start by brainstorming and try to come up with answers to questions like: Is it a fictional place or a non-fictional one, is it going to be in an urban setting or in the woods outside of the city, in what time period is it going to take place, …

This is the part that is going to take a lot of your own creativity to make your story unique so i won’t talk any more about this part. Check the link for a full explanation on how to easily create a world.

Create your first characters

In one of my previous posts i already talked about character development, you can find that post here. But the things i talked about in that post are a bit more advanced, what you want to know is how to create your first character. There are different ways to do this: you can create the character you want or create the character the story needs. Many a writer would critique the second way by saying that this makes the characters flat and ensures that the character has a lacks of an interesting character arc. Now i am a big fan of the second way so i beg the differ, i think when you create the character the story needs it ensures that your character fits the setting. It is then the job of the writer to make that character interesting. But we will get to that in a bit.

Whichever way you choose i always suggest you create and develop the basic characters first and with that i mean your pro- and antagonist(s). It makes sense that, because the story revolves around them they are the most important and thus they need the most development. As i have stated before the easiest way to remember how every character is are the character questionnaires which you find all over tumblr and other writing blogs. But in my previous post about character development i also stated that these questionnaires alone are not enough to make a character feel real. Definitely check the link out to know which tips i gave about that subject. 

When you created the main characters you are going to need to brainstorm. For example i will make a character called Tony (and let’s just say i already tried to develop him to the fullest i possibly could). Tony is going to need a set of parents and so i create Maria and Jack. My backstory requires him to be best friends with his cousin so i create Jenny. He is getting a masters degree so he is going to need a couple of teachers and since he is kind of popular he is going to need at least six good and a couple of semi good friend. BAM, i just created another twenty characters. You just keep this brainstorming going until you have been through your entire story and you will have a complete list of characters which you need to describe and create. Does every character need to be fully developed? No, If for example one of his professors only get’s mentioned once you probably don’t need to know who his parents were and how he defines himself as a human being. But his best friends do need the full treatment. 

Lastly i want to point out that you need to keep a list with all of your created characters where you sum up everything that is important about that character: his appearance, his personality traits, backstory, … so you won’t forget about their characteristics halfway through working on your book.

Filling up the timeline

The easiest way (and sort of the way i always did it before i even knew about it) to do this is using the Pixar story structure:

Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___.

Pixar are as most of you know the masters of originality and deserve to be an influence on new writers. What this story three folded structure entails is that it begins with sketching the origins and habits of your main character, then describe the factor that disrupts the main characters pattern and the effects it has on his life and finally describe how it all ends.  This is a great and easy way to come up with your timeline so use it!

After you have done this you will have at least have a couple of scenes in mind which you put on your timeline. Most importantly after you have combined this with your world building and your character creating you will probably have the beginning of your story. a point where you are sure the story of your character starts and probably the point which messes the world of the main character up. From then on it is easy to fill in the blanks, try the following step: how do my characters get from scene A to scene B, what happens in between and how do i make this interesting. This is applicable for every kind of story. I will give two completely different examples to demonstrate this.

Let’s say you are writing an action packed novel where they get from one action scene to the next needs a break from the action. So a thing you could do is let them get to a hideout to resupply (how they get there) and so they can figure out what will come next (how to make it interesting). 

A completely different example for instance is a love story where you have two romantic scenes but don’t know how you link the two up. Maybe one of them bumps in to a past romantic interest (how do i make it interesting) which makes him doubt his/her love for the other mc so he/ she wants to see the other mc to see what happens (how do they get there). But seeing her might make him forget all that. 

You just keep using this rule until your timeline is filled up and voila! You have a basic timeline to work with.

Mixing it up

As you are doing all of the above you will notice that none of the above steps stand on their own. Creating a part of the world will lead to you coming up with an interesting scene, creating that scene will lead to creating new characters to put in the scene, creating that scene may help you shape the place they are at and thus help you build up your world further, … And before you know it your story will write itself! And like i said in the introduction, there is no one way of doing it. Some stories require a lot of attention on world building, others need attention in the character development department. 

Research

First let me make clear that i don’t like to plan a story out until i have every detail. I don’t do this because wile you are writing, you will get new ideas which will replace old ones and thus it would be a waste of time to develop a complete idea only to have it replaced. But on the contrary a lack of research will make your story seem unbelievable so you have to find that perfect balance.

Now what are you suppose to research beforehand and what do you research wile writing? Well i always suggest you try to have a basic understanding before you start working and research the specifics when needed. For example if you are writing about a wood worker you need to know what his daily activities are, what tools he has in his shop, … But only when your character is making a chair do you need to know which steps he undertakes to make it. 

Writing can be intimidating and is something that takes up a lot of time. But if you ask any writer whether he he would want to go back to a time he didn’t write a guarantee you that none of them will say yes. Writing is something beautiful and helps writers in so many ways and it is just something that we enjoy. So don’t let the huge pile of work scare you off, in the end the whole process is something you will enjoy and once you start it you will find out that this is what your life has been missing all along.

Guide: How to Get Excited About Your Story Again

Anonymous asked: Hi! I’m really deep in my stor-stor now and I love it, but sometimes things get a little too big and overwhelming and I need to remind myself what I love about the story in the first place; what’s got me going and what keeps me going. Any tips on doing so?

1) Cast your characters, or if you’re artistic, try drawing them. If you’ve got Photoshop skills, try making a movie-style poster for your story. 2) Create a tumblr gallery filled with images that inspire you where your story is concerned. These could be images of things in your story, things you want to include in your story, or just things that make you think of your story. 3) Make a playlist of songs to serve as a soundtrack for your story. 4) Make a list of five things you love about every character, five things you love about the plot, and five things you love about the setting. 5) Write a short essay about the important themes in your story and why they matter to you. See if similar themes run through any of your other stories. 6) Get a fun and easy going friend or sibling to play “radio show” with you. Have them interview you about your story as though you were an author talking about their novel on a radio show. Try to be serious about it for as long as you can–which won’t be long because it’s super cheesy but lots of fun. 7) Try to write a poem about the plot of your story as though your protagonist was the one writing it. 8) Draw maps and floor plans of your setting and sets. Go window shopping online to look for furniture and props to fill your character’s home with. 9) Make a Wordle using words from your story. 10) Read your story out loud as if you were reading it to a group of fans. Try to imagine their reactions at different points in the story. When would their attention be the most rapt? When would they smile? When would they sniffle? When would they cheer? I hope that helps! :)

The conversation

“Getting” yourself to write

Yesterday, I was trawling iTunes for a decent podcast about writing. After a while, I gave up, because 90% of them talked incessantly about “self-discipline,” “making writing a habit,” “getting your butt in the chair,” “getting yourself to write.” To me, that’s six flavors of fucked up.

Okay, yes—I see why we might want to “make writing a habit.” If we want to finish anything, we’ll have to write at least semi-regularly. In practical terms, I get it.

But maybe before we force our butts into chairs, we should ask why it’s so hard to “get” ourselves to write. We aren’t deranged; our brains say “I don’t want to do this” for a reason. We should take that reason seriously.

Most of us resist writing because it hurts and it’s hard. Well, you say, writing isn’t supposed to be easy—but there’s hard, and then there’s hard. For many of us, sitting down to write feels like being asked to solve a problem that is both urgent and unsolvable—“I have to, but it’s impossible, but I have to, but it’s impossible.” It feels fucking awful, so naturally we avoid it.

We can’t “make writing a habit,” then, until we make it less painful. Something we don’t just “get” ourselves to do.

The “make writing a habit” people are trying to do that, in their way. If you do something regularly, the theory goes, you stop dreading it with such special intensity because it just becomes a thing you do. But my god, if you’re still in that “dreading it” phase and someone tells you to “make writing a habit,” that sounds horrible.

So many of us already dismiss our own pain constantly. If we turn writing into another occasion for mute suffering, for numb and joyless endurance, we 1) will not write more, and 2) should not write more, because we should not intentionally hurt ourselves.

Seriously. If you want to write more, don’t ask, “how can I make myself write?” Ask, “why is writing so painful for me and how can I ease that pain?” Show some compassion for yourself. Forgive yourself for not being the person you wish you were and treat the person you are with some basic decency. Give yourself a fucking break for avoiding a thing that makes you feel awful.

Daniel José Older, in my favorite article on writing ever, has this to say to the people who admonish writers to write every day:

Here’s what stops more people from writing than anything else: shame. That creeping, nagging sense of ‘should be,’ ‘should have been,’ and ‘if only I had…’ Shame lives in the body, it clenches our muscles when we sit at the keyboard, takes up valuable mental space with useless, repetitive conversations. Shame, and the resulting paralysis, are what happen when the whole world drills into you that you should be writing every day and you’re not.

The antidote, he says, is to treat yourself kindly:

For me, writing always begins with self-forgiveness. I don’t sit down and rush headlong into the blank page. I make coffee. I put on a song I like. I drink the coffee, listen to the song. I don’t write. Beginning with forgiveness revolutionizes the writing process, returns its being to a journey of creativity rather than an exercise in self-flagellation. I forgive myself for not sitting down to write sooner, for taking yesterday off, for living my life. That shame? I release it. My body unclenches; a new lightness takes over once that burden has floated off. There is room, now, for story, idea, life.

Writing has the potential to bring us so much joy. Why else would we want to do it? But first we’ve got to unlearn the pain and dread and anxiety and shame attached to writing—not just so we can write more, but for our own sakes! Forget “making writing a habit”—how about “being less miserable”? That’s a worthy goal too!

Luckily, there are ways to do this. But before I get into them, please absorb this lesson: if you want to write, start by valuing your own well-being. Start by forgiving yourself. And listen to yourself when something hurts.

Next post: freewriting

Ask me a question or send me feedback! Podcast recommendations welcome…

All the time….

You Will Be Rejected

Not: You might be rejected.

Not: You’ll have a few rejections.

Not Even: Well, if you’re only mid-list worthy you’ll have at least twenty rejections.

You want to get published? Fine. You need to accept that every single day of your career will have rejection.

Everything you write will be rejected.

Every book you publish will be hated.

Every character you love will be degraded.

Every hour you put in – the blood and sweat and tears – will be dismissed as “…talentless hack who doesn’t know how to string a sentence together.”

Millions of people will never read your book because they can’t read at all.

Millions of people will never read your book because they don’t speak the same language as you.

Millions of people will never read your book because they hate your genre.

Millions of people will never read your book because they don’t like fe/male authors.

Millions of people will never read your book because they didn’t get into it.

Billions of people will reject your work. They will mock you. They will dismiss you. They will talk trash about you.

You. Will. Be. Rejected.

It doesn’t matter. You aren’t writing for the millions. You are writing for the one.

The one person who tells you your book made them cry because it spoke to them.

The one person who tells you your book changed the way they saw the world.

The one person who tells you your book was the only light in a dark time.

The one person who tells you your book inspired them to be something more.

You are writing for them.

They will wish they could take your characters to prom.

They will read your book after their mother’s funeral.

They will curl up in bed with your book on a cold night after their first real break up.

They will turn to those pages time and again to revisit the places they love.

You’re going to get rejected. And you’re going to take that punch square on the chin and not ever back down because you know who you are writing for. Because you know it takes more than a pretty font to make a book work, you have to be willing to take the rejections. You have to go into this knowing you will fail a million times with a million readers, and that it doesn’t matter because you aren’t writing for them.

Keep your chin up. You are someone’s favorite author even if they don’t know it yet.

Angry Cicadas - SorayaLi - The Mallorca Files (TV 2019) [Archive of Our Own]

https://archiveofourown.org/works/64887982