Angela Booth's Writing Blog

Confident Writing: 20 Fun Exercises To Help You To Write Easily And Well - Copywriter Angela Booth

Write with confidence, starting today

Would you like to make writing easier, as well more enjoyable? What if you discovered how to become a confident writer?

You can become confident, more quickly than you can imagine.

It took me years to become a confident writer

Looking back, it took me at least a decade and a half to become a writer who could sit down and write any project from go to whoa—with confidence.

Slowly, imperceptibly, I changed from someone who cried real tears whenever I sat down at my typewriter, to someone whose default setting was writing.

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Want To Write A Novel? These Tips May Help If You’re Stressed

Last month our group discussed NaNoWriMo and stress. Our writers’ group includes authors who’ve been traditionally published, as well as self-publishing authors. It also includes aspiring authors who want to write, and would, if the whole idea of writing a book were less stressful.

One author said that her biggest stressor was doubt. Writing was her dream, what if she couldn’t do it?

You want to write a novel, but what if you can’t?

Words like “write a novel” will awaken your inner censor, and this can be disastrous when you’re writing a first draft.

Avoid placing demands on your creativity. Allow yourself to write. Accept whatever words come.

Let’s look at some tips which may help.

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Freelance Writing Secrets: Pitch It To Win It

As a writing teacher, my aim for almost two decades has been to help freelance writers to build their confidence and skills. Although the world has changed since our first creative business ezine, Creative Small Biz, was published in 2003, the fundamentals of getting freelance gigs haven’t changed much at all.

Here’s the biggest change. Today, rather than sending heavy packets of your “about me” materials via postal mail, you approach prospects via email.

That said, if you’d like a lucrative freelance writing career, you need to be aware of the secret professional writers know. What do they know?

(FYI: this week’s special is Freelance Writing: Zero To Hero — check it out.)

Freelance writing: what’s the secret professional writers know?

They know this… The basis of a great freelance writing business is pitching.

A “pitch” is an offering.

Knowing how to pitch your ideas and offerings will make your writing career profitable.

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Start Writing Your Novel: 4 Scrivener Tips To Make It Easy

Let’s start at the beginning. You’re preparing to write a novel.

Scrivener tips to start writing your novel

What will your novel be about? Which genre?

You don’t have an idea in your head. Instead of staring into space, and wasting writing time, open Scrivener.

1. Use index card mode (the cork board), or outliner mode, to muse, and jot down ideas

For me, the most useful mode for brainstorming ideas is Cork Board group mode. You can create as many index cards as you like.

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Fiction: 4 Reasons Writing A Series Is Easier

Want proof it makes sense to write a series? Check the catalogue of any bestselling commercial fiction author, whether self-publishing or traditionally published, and you’ll find they write series. Indeed, my first publishing contract was for a series; publishers prefer multi-book contracts because they know series sell.

In addition to selling more books, when you write a series, you:

• Save time, because beginning a new novel is a messy process. With a series, you save setup time on each book after the first;
• Plotting is easier (seriously);
• Inspiration and creativity flow;
• You feel more confident because you know the world in which you’re writing.

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Plotting Fiction Essentials: A Quick Checklist

Here’s the most common pitfall which causes suffering for my fiction writing students: they treat their much-labored-over plot as if it were engraved in stone.

That’s dangerous, because “plot” is both a verb and a noun.

A tip: treat “plot” as a verb: make it an active process. Here’s why. From Plotting Fiction: 3 Reasons To Plot Your Novel In An Hour:

Your outline morphs while you write. As long as the bones of your outline are there, you are headed in the right direction; adjustments are simple.

Here’s how to plot, actively:

• Plot as you go. Successful fiction contains many elements, so “plot” them into your fiction while you’re writing;
• Use the checklist below. It contains the major elements of your plot. Your novel should include them all;
• Relax. Every novel, novella and short story you write is different. Some projects are more challenging than others, but you become more skilled and experienced the more you write;
• And speaking of writing, write. Plot actively, for every scene in your novel. Use the checklist below if you sense something missing in a scene, or in a characterization.

Let’s look at the plotting checklist; the essential elements of your plot, no matter the genre.

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3 Reasons To Plot Your Novel In An Hour

Do you dislike plotting fiction? Many authors do. No matter how many novels you’ve written, plotting can be an anxiety-inducing experience.

(BTW, you can end your plotting woes for good—there’s a special offering on our best plotting program, Commercial Fiction Secrets: Plot Your Novel In 60 Minutes Or Less. It expires Friday. Check it out.)

Here’s the thing. To plot efficiently, whether you’re an outliner or a pantser, you need a process.

Without a process, you’ll struggle. Chances are that you’ll:

• Get fed up, and will give up on the novel;
• Procrastinate: the novel takes you forever to finish;
• Finish the novel, but the amount of editing required will be so overwhelming that you can’t face it;
• Complete and publish the novel, but… It will be a disappointment.

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Write Fiction Readers Love: 3 Tips To Convey Emotions - Author Penelope Redmont

The discussion started when one author said: “Last week I caught up on my reading. I read four (genre) novels. After I finished them, I struggled to remember the characters. And the plots.”

(I won’t mention which genre she read, because in this instance it doesn’t matter. We’ve all read novels in many different genres we’ve enjoyed, but forgot quickly.)

Write fiction your readers love

When we write fiction, we’re writing entertainment. It’s escapism, to take readers into an imaginary world for a few hours. Isn’t that enough?

Yes, it is. BUT… Don’t we also want to write truly satisfying fiction? When we read fiction, we live a character’s life vicariously, until we realize: it’s just a book.

So, how do we draw readers deeply into the story, so that our novel seems believable and real? It helps to look at emotions and conveying them to our readers.

Here are three useful tips from our groups’ discussion.

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Editing Fiction: 3 Tips To Help Your Story To Flow

A big challenge when editing is story flow. That is, avoiding lumps and bumps which stop the reader. It’s vital to avoid bumps on a micro level, when the reader has a “huh?” moment because he can’t figure out what you meant by a sentence, or on a macro level, when the reader stops reading because he’s bored.

Editing fiction: when should you edit?

NaNoWriMo is coming up again in November. One author said she still hadn’t edited her previous NaNoWriMo novel.

Try to do some minor editing while you’re writing; at the end of a chapter. Major editing happens once you’ve completed your first draft.

Here’s a minor editing example: let’s say that you’ve decided to call your main character Jasper, rather than Todd. You do a search and replace, and it’s done.

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How To Outline Your Writing: 3 Easy Tricks You Need Today

Whenever I use the word “outline” to my students, I know a couple of people in the group will sigh and look as if they wish they were somewhere else. Anywhere else.

To eliminate the panic, I suggest to my students that they substitute the word “map” for “outline.”

A map:

• Orients you: it shows you where you are;
• Reveals routes to your destination;
• Is a visual guide. With a map, you can take in a lot of information at a glance.

Mind maps are a wonderful tool to help you to outline/ map your projects.

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Short Fiction: Why Write Shorties?

I adore writing short fiction. It’s the only way I can keep several pen names going concurrently and have time to ghostwrite short fiction as well.

Recently I did a Q & A with my Pro Fiction class (sorry, it’s invitation only) on writing short stories. A couple of the students weren’t keen on short fiction. They were new to self-publishing, so couldn’t see the benefits.

Let’s look at some of them.

Short fiction helps you to develop your self-publishing venture in various easy ways, including:

• Giving you the ability to publish short stories in between publishing novels and nonfiction books to clear your mind and relax;

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Plotting A Series Of Novels: 5 Tips To Get You Started

1. Create a framework for your series: a world, and big conflicts

Keeping your characters together — giving them a reason for interacting — is a challenge for every author, no matter the genre. Devices to keep characters interacting can include:

• Family relationships;
• Settings: a workplace, or a small town;
• A quest, or a challenge, or a crime.

The framework for the Greenleaf series is a Memphis mega-church, the Greenleaf family, and a crime.

If you’re a pantser, and hate plotting (me, too), spend time on your framework, and the rules of the world of your series. Once you know the world, and your over-arching plot, you can cheerfully pants the novels.

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Getting Things Done For Writers: 4 Tips To Increase Your Output

1. Writing is thinking: think in your Inbox

Many writers try to write whatever they’re working on straight through. In other words, if you’re writing an article, you write the title, and then plough through the article.

Invariably this leads to unpleasantness. Either the piece doesn’t work: your logic was faulty, so you end up repeating yourself, or you leave out vital information. Or you stall, then you procrastinate: you can’t think of a title, the introduction seems boring, you realize you need more research…

There are a million things which can go wrong when you try to write anything in a single session where your first draft is your only draft.

Find an Inbox for your writing: keep your initial drafts there. I like Evernote, because I can work on early drafts on my phone.

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Writing Fiction So That Readers FEEL (Emotion Is Everything)

Writing fiction is a challenge because it’s all about the readers’ emotions. Bestselling authors are masterful at conveying emotions. They make us cringe, laugh, and weep.

When I’m reading, if an author makes me feel, I love it, even if the emotions are uncomfortable and I have to remind myself that the book is make-believe, it’s not real. This writing skill goes beyond craft, into real art. By tugging on our emotions authors pull us into the world of their books. We keep reading.

Readers have endless options for entertainment. They can drop your novel to read another one, or they can watch Netflix or hit the kitchen for a cooking session. Of course, the siren song of Facebook is always there.

So, how do you keep readers reading?

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Writing Fiction: 3 Tips To Help You To Create Believable Conflict

Let’s look at some tips to help you to create believable conflict.

1. Try to make your characters’ conflicts stem from who they are

The most realistic conflicts between characters stem from who they are. The Odd Couple is my favorite example of this type of conflict. When Felix and Oscar live together they’re so different that conflict is guaranteed.

Have you watched any episodes of the long-running TV series, MASH? The series’ major conflicts came from the Korean war, but the characters were all in conflict too.

Most of the conflicts in your novel will be minor, but your major conflicts should be difficult or seemingly impossible to resolve.

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Does conflict make you uncomfortable? It may do, I know it does me... But if you're writing fiction, you need to court conflict, and lots of it.