10 Remedies For The Horrible Things Writers Tell Themselves

10 Remedies For The Horrible Things Writers Tell Themselves

 

Writers are horrible people. Think about it. We create characters, we love them and then we do the most horrible things to them all in the name of tension and conflict. Weird, right? 

 

But that doesn’t compare to how we treat ourselves. I see it week in and week out in class - how we beat ourselves up. When someone writes a beautiful piece, there is always this choir of voices saying, “I could never write that” or “I’ll never be that good.” 

And yes, they are right. You will never be able to write ‘that’ exactly as the other person did, because you are a different kind of writer. That is what makes us unique. That is what allows us to write our own stories. 

Writing is hard enough without bashing ourselves over the head about it. This is what I tell my students (and myself) when the going gets tough: 

1. Stop comparing your work: Don’t compare your first draft to a best-selling author’s seventh prize winning novel. It too was once a sucky first draft and has subsequently been through numerous rewrites, editor suggestions and beta-readers. Not fair to compare.  
2. Every writer is unique: We all have different strengths and weaknesses. Figure out what they are; work on your weaknesses and celebrate your strengths. If you struggle with dialogue, practise writing it. Study good dialogue, complete dialogue prompts, and read up about dialogue. You get the idea.
3. Trust the timing: Malcolm Gladwell says you need 10 000 hours before you are good at anything. We all start at different times. Some writers are just starting out, others have 3 000 hours under their belt already. Others are accomplished, but they still have to fight their demons. Keep practising; you’ll be too busy to listen to critics.
4. Set realistic goals: Some writers can write 6 000 words a day, others are happy if they manage 500. Some write full time, others squeeze in pages between meetings and kids. Some writers write three times a week in big blocks, others write for twenty minutes every day. It is up to you to find what works for you.
5. Be kind to yourself: Writers are also very ambitious. Often I teach first time authors who have big ideas for books. Multiple plotlines, hundreds of characters and it’s great, but it might be bit ambitious for your current skillset. You might want to try something simpler first. Stephen King said he had the idea for The Dome early on in his career, but he realised he wasn’t ready. He saved the idea until he could do it justice.
6. Take care of yourself: Writing is both fulfilling and draining. You need good people around you, people who look after you. Not people who drain you. Try surrounding yourself with positive people. Misery loves company. 

7. Fire your inner critic: One of the first exercises we do at Writers Write is to write a letter to our Internal Critic. We fire the poor soul and thank them for his or her service. A liberating experience.
8. Create a creative environment: If you have an office that is great. Make it a space where you can work and have fun. If you don’t have space for an office, try using the corner of a room or converting a cupboard. The internet is full of ideas for adapting small places. 
9. Take time out to nurture your creativity: Go for a walk, watch a new movie, and build a sandcastle. Do something you enjoy, other than writing. 
10. Mostly be kind to your writing self: There are enough critics out there. Be your own champion for a change.

by Mia Botha

 

Mia Botha is a a novelist, a ghost writer, and the winner of the Mills&Boon Voice of Africa Competition. When she isn’t writing, she is the mother of two children and the wife of a very lucky man.

 

 

How To Write A Book Foreword

How To Write A Book Foreword

A book foreword is an appetizer that invites the reader to proceed towards the main course, while he is still hungry. It is a short piece of writing found at the beginning of a book, preceding the introduction. It is mainly used to introduce the reader to the author as well as the book. Moreover, it focuses on the interaction between the writer of the foreword and the author of the book. These days, book forewords have become more of a marketing tool that is used to market both the author and the foreword writer. Occupation as a foreword author is gaining importance day by day. Most publishers, today, place the foreword author’s name on the cover of the book, sometimes more prominently than the book author’s name, thereby helping the foreword writer to promote his services for other professionals as well. If you too want to be a foreword writer and want to know how to write a perfect book foreword, this article is definitely worth browsing. Glance through the following lines to find tips on writing the foreword of a book.

Tips For Writing A Foreword For A Book

·         Know the format for writing a foreword. Usually, a foreword lasts for one or two pages, but can exceed if the book is being introduced for the first time and has a long history to tell. The foreword is usually divided into three general sections: the opening, the closing and the middle. Your name and title are included at the end of the foreword.

 

·         The foreword should always have a personal touch in the beginning, that is, the opening lines. Let your readers know how the author of the foreword knows the author of the book. Doing so increases the credibility of the book.

·         While writing the middle of the foreword, include anecdotes. You can illustrate an example that represents the theme presented in the book. This will enable the reader to relate to the author. It would also portray the author in the right light, showcasing him as a realistic writer who knows his subject matter well.

·         Mention the good points about the book and what the readers will be expecting in it. Be sure to give a brief synopsis of the book. In case the book deals with solving problems or offering unique points of view, mention the same in the middle of the foreword.

·         Write the closing of the foreword by mentioning your reasons for writing the foreword and why it mattered to you in the first place. Writing this is vital for your career as well the author’s. It is this text that would boost the reliability and credibility of the book. This will also induce the readers to continue reading the book, since it has been recommended by the foreword writer.

·         Finally, bring the foreword to an end by mentioning a reference from the first paragraph into your final paragraph to add cohesiveness.

·         After you have completed with writing the foreword, sign at the end mentioning your name, qualifications, title and location.

 

Tips by Famous Authors on Writing a book

Rudy Simone, Author of Aspergirls: Empowering Women with Asperger Syndrome and Asperger’s On the Job

"I had the easiest time of my life writing my three Asperger books. I just ran like Secretariat once I got going. But, I did learn that questionnaires make good research tools. I had three levels of questionnaires, each expanding on the one before it, so I didn’t have to individually interview each person. I did that by email or phone if and when it was warranted. By the time I wrote Aspergirls I had it streamlined: The questionnaires were posted on my site, the first one visible to the public so anyone could use it, then the 2nd and third were on hidden pages that I gave my participants the URL to. The data was compiled and I received email alerts whenever there was a new entry. So while I was researching certain elements of my book, the questionnaires and the people who used them were doing a lot of the legwork. Being that I’m fairly uneducated, I think I did a pretty good job with it.

 

How New Authors Can Keep Their Manuscripts Coherent by Marvin Cloud

How New Authors Can Keep Their Manuscripts Coherent by Marvin Cloud

In large publishing houses, many manuscripts penned by first-time authors, never make it past the "first reader" who for all practical purposes is a gatekeeper of sorts. This person's job is to weed out manuscripts that do not fit certain established submission criteria. However, many never make it to the editor's desk, simply because they are badly disorganized and downright incoherent.

But even if you are self-publishing, you owe it to yourself as well as your readers to develop a theme. Not only will a theme tell what your book is about, it also serves to hold your book together. Every other element — your chapters, for example — should support your theme. It is what keeps you from rambling all over the place, and if you should stray, it is what can bring you back — if you keep it in front of you.

That’s literally, as well as figuratively. I wouldn’t begin to write or give a talk without having a developed theme. Have you ever been to a banquet or meeting where the speaker went on and on with a speech that was all over the place, talking about everything under the sun, except the topic the audience was waiting to hear about? Most likely it wasn’t because the speaker didn’t have a topic, but rather it was because the speaker didn’t have or didn’t take the time to develop a theme. If you want your story to be just as disjointed —then don’t develop a theme for it.

 

Unlike a working title that may change to something else entirely different or even several times before a manuscript is finished, a theme shouldn’t change during the course of your writing. It may become more obvious during the writing process, but I advise writers to spend serious time developing their theme so that they are clear about the message they are trying to convey. If it is not clear to you, how can you write it in such a way that it is clear to your readers?

Unfortunately, you cannot find the answer to why you are writing your story in this article, or in any book for that matter. You cannot even find it in a classroom setting. Books and classes can only serve to help you bring the reason(s) to the surface, but the answer must come from you. How then, do you determine your book’s purpose? How can you be certain that it is more than a good story? Your book’s purpose is, to a great degree, intertwined with your purpose.

Mark Victor Hansen, co-creator of the Chicken Soup series suggests meditation, or deep, controlled, concentrated thought. He says, "Relax and tap into your mind, way back there in the deepest,secret compartment of your mind, by asking yourself this question: ‘If I knew my life purpose, what would it be?’ Don’t just ask it once. Keep asking this question until you get the answer. It may not come the first day, or even the first week. But it’s there, and it will show its face if you earnestly ask."

Hansen states that this should be repeated every morning and every night for 15 minutes until the answer comes to you, and then write it down. He continues, “Be open to the answer, no matter when it comes to you. Remember, it wants you just as much as you want it.”

A good theme does three things: 1) it describes the story or book; 2) it captures the uniqueness of the story or book; 3) it motivates the author. If it accomplishes these three things, it will also make your outline easier to create. In business-speak, an “elevator speech” is a brief description about your company that you should be able to give to someone in the time it would take to ride up an elevator. I hold that everyone writing a book needs an elevator speech, or theme, for it.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Marvin D. Cloud is founder of http://mybestseller.com and author of "Get Off The Pot: How to Stop Procrastinating and Write Your Personal Bestseller in 90 Days."

Literary words You should Know

Meiosis: Satirical works, particularly those hailing from Britain, will oftentimes use understatement to greatly hilarious effect. Impress or (more likely) annoy book club friends by using the technical term "meiosis" instead.

Tips on Writing a Book

1.        You already know what you need to know to do this.  The fact is, my 60,000-plus-word book was pretty much like writing 8 to 10 long-form pieces.  I didn’t do it differently, in terms of research or writing or rewriting.  My existing skills were perfectly adequate to the task; yours will be too.  It took me 2.5 years but then, I was teaching and freelancing at the same time; had I focused solely on the book, it probably would’ve taken 18 months.  So you will make your deadline, even if your book is longer and more complex. - Paula Span

2.      Unhelpful, right?  But maybe not.  Bottom line, this is not some whole different sphere for which you are ill-prepared.  For better or worse, whether you use some nifty software to organize your material or you use a whole bunch of yellow legal pads and photocopies in hanging files (like me — so retro), this is familiar territory and you are an old hand.  So get to it. Paula Span

40 literary terms you should know

Malapropism: When used properly, deliberately replacing words with different ones (usually homophones) can really make a humorous scene pop. This technique comes from the character Mrs. Malaprop, created by Richard Brinsley Sheridan for his play The Rivals, whose verbal quirks reflected such things.