This is a funny article… when you think that I am about 3 days behind in posting it. You see… I am the king of procrastination. This is what I have the most trouble with.

As humans we naturally search for the path of least resistance. This means that we are more likely to lay on the couch and watch TV than sit in front of the computer to write those pesky 2,000 words per day.

If we could avoid procrastination, I believe whole heartedly, we would all be successful novelists, or artists, or any other profession that you can think of. Procrastination is the one thing that gets most people in trouble at work. It is the one thing that holds most of us back.

So… how do we overcome procrastination? The only way is to identify the moments that we are procrastinating… then maybe we can start to force ourselves to do something productive rather than napping, surfing the internet or playing those time wasting video games.

If we can do something productive every time we realize we are procrastinating… We will complete something that will eventually lead to success. The more we stop procrastination, the sooner that success will arrive.

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If you have other ideas on how to find story ideas, write a comment. I would love to hear how you are inspired.

These tools have saved my rear a number of times. They, at least, help me from looking stupid. I usually use MS word to write my blog entries. The program finds most of my mistakes as I type them. For most spelling errors, it actually fixes the error without even letting me know that it changed the spelling for me. This is usually when it knows that the word can’t be anything other than the word I am trying to type.

If it can’t figure out what I am trying to spell, it underlines it with a little red hash mark letting me know that I need to figure out the spelling before I go on an publish the article. It will do the same thing on grammatical mistakes. It will use a little green hash mark under the sentence or set of words that are nit making a whole lot of sense.

When you are writing your novel, you can forget these tools. You first draft is supposed to have every spelling error known to man and have clunky sentence structure. The point for your first draft is to get it written… no matter how bad it is. Then before you print out the manuscript to do the first edit, go through and fix all the red and green hash marks. This will make your edits a whole lot easier.

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If you have other ideas on how to find story ideas, write a comment. I would love to hear how you are inspired.

Writing Tips: Adverbs are Evil

First off… What is an Adverb?

Wikipedia Says: “Adverbs typically answer 3 questions such as how?, when?, or where?… Alternatively, an adverb may be contained within a sentence element.” Such as “An extremely small child entered the room.”

Why are Adverbs evil? Basically… They are overused. People use them to try to get a point across when the point was already made with the adjective. What gets to me is when people used the word “really” in front of everything. That really annoys me… wink wink.

After you finish your first draft, go back a look for those pesky adverbs. Ask yourself, Are they truly needed? If they are… ok then. Leave them in there. If they are not… Take them out. Adverbs are words that we use in our everyday conversation. They help us emphasize the feelings in our voice. You can’t always hear that voice in prose. You have to express that feeling in other ways.

Just be careful where you use adverbs.

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If you have other ideas on how to find story ideas, write a comment. I would love to hear how you are inspired.

If you are like me, when you really get into a project, you kind of keep going ‘til there is absolutely no energy left. This can be dangerous. Why? Well, when you get back up from that writing binge… there is a possibility that you will not want to go back to it to finish it, or at least you will start to put it off because your subconscious does not want to binge like that again.

Take a break. This is important. I know that life can get all caught up in the soup along with your writing. That is ok. You need to step back every once in a while and look at what you are doing. Re-assess the priorities in your life. You may find that you are spending way too much time watching TV or surfing the internet instead of doing the things that are actually productive.

This time you take, can refresh your mind. It allows your mind to relax, thus forcing all those pesky worries and frustrations to the back burner so you can relax. Once you are relaxed, it will surprise you how well the ideas will start to make their way into the space you have provided. These ideas could be for your current novel, or for future stories. Write them down. When you move back into the chaos that is your life, you will be glad that you did. There is no way that the average person can remember every idea that springs into his/her head.

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If you have other ideas on how to find story ideas, write a comment. I would love to hear how you are inspired.

Sometimes you need to write more to get to the essence of the story. Sometimes you need to write more to reach your word count everyday. Sometimes you just need to fluff your story ‘til you figure out where your story is going. (Don’t worry… When you get to the first edit, you will be able to remove the fluff.

Ways to increase your word count:

1. Give your character a dream that will lead to a way of thinking.
2. Have your Character talk about a past occurrence.
3. Show the scene in an interesting, thought provoking manner. Take more time to paint a picture for your reader. Let them see what you see.
4. Give your character a hiatus… a time for learning. Describe the struggles that he/she goes through to better himself/herself.
5. Send them on a side journey that leads to a item or an informational nugget that will be necessary to solve the problem at the end of the story.

There are a number of bad ways to add to your word count. Most of them will have to be removed on your edits:

1. Change all contractions to their corresponding two words – Can’t = Can Not
2. Give your characters three or four names that you state every time you mention them.
3. Adjectives, Adjectives Adjectives.

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If you have other ideas on how to find story ideas, write a comment. I would love to hear how you are inspired.

Description can be a tricky feat. The hardest part is to determine when to stop. How much Description is enough? The easiest way to answer that is to let your inner editor determine that after you have finished the first draft.

Write as much description as you can about the scene and the people in the scene. The more description you give, the easier it will be for the reader to envision what is going on.

Sometimes you can give way too much information. You may tell the reader about things that don’t even matter when it comes to advancing the story. This will be what your editor will take out when you go back to edit.

There are other times when there is not enough information given. You might tell the reader about a fight but not give enough information about why the fight started.

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If you have other ideas on how to find story ideas, write a comment. I would love to hear how you are inspired.

I find that dialogue is something that should come easily. It is something that we all do everyday without really thinking about it. We should be able to write dialogue just as easily.

Think about it. What would your characters say to each other? It doesn’t have to be all that profound. Most people are not profound. They say things as the words come to them. So should your characters.

There are a few things to stay away from though. The biggest is the word “UM”. We say up a lot… probably too much. If you use the word um in your dialogue you will not have a character trying to find the words to use. You will have a character who sounds ignorant or slow. Don’t use it unless that is the effect you are trying to achieve.

Make sure you read the dialogue out loud to yourself. This will help you pinpoint whether or not it sound believable or not. Do people really sound like that? You will be able to answer this question when you read it back to yourself.

Try not to spell words phonetically. This may work once in a while, but if you use it throughout the work, your reader will become exhausted and may stop reading entirely, no matter how good your book is.

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If you have other ideas on how to find story ideas, write a comment. I would love to hear how you are inspired.